A casino is a facility that allows customers to gamble by exchanging money for chips. Most states regulate the amount of money that can be exchanged, and most casinos require patrons to be of legal gambling age. Casinos often feature gambling devices such as slot machines and table games, as well as entertainment shows and restaurants.
Casinos are businesses, and like any other business they strive to make a profit. They do this by offering built-in advantages that, over time, earn them enough profits to pay the bills. These edges can be very small—less than two percent of each bet—but over millions of bets they add up.
In addition to the house edge, casinos have other built-in costs, including the cost of security. Because of the large amounts of cash handled, both patrons and staff may be tempted to cheat or steal, in collusion with each other or independently. To prevent this, casinos have extensive security measures. These include cameras in every room, some with high-tech “eyes-in-the-sky” capabilities.
Although casinos rake in billions of dollars each year, critics claim that they do not benefit communities in any lasting way. They argue that the money spent on gaming is shifted from other forms of local entertainment, and that the expense of treating compulsive gamblers negates any economic gains casinos might bring. In addition, many casinos are owned by corporations, investors or Native American tribes and are heavily subsidized by state and local taxes.