Casino
A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, concerts, and sporting events. The term casino is of Italian origin, from the root word casa meaning "house." Originally, the term referred to a small country villa, summerhouse, or social club. During the 19th century, casino came to encompass other public buildings where pleasurable activities took place.
The precise origin of gambling is unknown, but it is believed to have existed in nearly every society in history. The first known European gambling house, the Ridotto, was established in Venice, Italy, in 1638 to provide controlled gambling during the carnival season. In the United States, early gambling establishments were known as saloons. In the early 20th century, gambling was outlawed in the US by state legislation. However, in 1931, gambling was legalized in Nevada, leading to the rise of Las Vegas as a major gambling center. In 1976, New Jersey allowed gambling in Atlantic City, which is now the second-largest gambling city in the US.
Casinos offer a variety of games of chance, which in some cases involve an element of skill. Common games include craps, roulette, baccarat, blackjack, and video poker. All casino games have a mathematically determined advantage for the house, known as the house edge, which ensures that the casino will make a profit in the long run. The percentage of funds returned to players as winnings is known as the payout. Slot machines have become one of the most popular forms of gambling in casinos. The design of a casino, including factors like sound, odour, and lighting, is often carefully controlled to encourage gambling.
Globally, there are several major casino markets. Macau is the largest gambling market in the world, having surpassed Las Vegas in terms of revenue. Other significant gambling centers include Singapore, Monte Carlo, and various locations in Europe and the United States. Some of the most famous casinos in the world include the Monte Carlo Casino, The Venetian Macao, and Caesars Palace. The casino industry is a major part of the tourism and leisure industry, with the largest casino operator companies generating tens of billions of dollars in revenue annually.
Etymology and usage
Casino is of Italian origin; the root casa means a house. The term casino may mean a small country villa, summerhouse, or social club. During the 19th century, casino came to include other public buildings where pleasurable activities took place; such edifices were usually built on the grounds of a larger Italian villa or palazzo, and were used to host civic town functions, including dancing, gambling, music listening, and sports. Examples in Italy include Villa Farnese and Villa Giulia, and in the US the Newport Casino in Newport, Rhode Island. In modern-day Italian, a is a brothel, a mess, or a noisy environment; a gambling house is spelt, with an accent.Not all casinos are used for gambling. The Catalina Casino, on Santa Catalina Island, California, has never been used for traditional games of chance, which were already outlawed in California by the time it was built. The Copenhagen Casino was a Danish theatre which also held public meetings during the 1848 Revolution, which made Denmark a constitutional monarchy.
In military and non-military usage, a or is an officers' mess.
History of gambling houses
The precise origin of gambling is unknown. It is generally believed that gambling in some form or another has been seen in almost every society in history. From Ancient Mesopotamia, Greeks and Romans to Napoleon's France and Elizabethan England, much of history is filled with stories of entertainment based on games of chance.The first known European gambling house, not called a casino although meeting the modern definition, was the Ridotto, established in Venice, Italy, in 1638 by the Great Council of Venice to provide controlled gambling during the carnival season. It was closed in 1774 as the city government felt it was impoverishing the local gentry.
In American history, early gambling establishments were known as saloons. The creation and importance of saloons was greatly influenced by four major cities: New Orleans, St. Louis, Chicago and San Francisco. It was in the saloons that travelers could find people to talk to, drink with, and often gamble with. During the early 20th century in the US, gambling was outlawed by state legislation. However, in 1931, gambling was legalized throughout the state of Nevada, where the United States's first legalized casinos were set up. In 1976 New Jersey allowed gambling in Atlantic City, now the United States's second largest gambling city.
Gambling in casinos
Most jurisdictions worldwide have a minimum gambling age of 18 to 21.Customers gamble by playing games of chance, in some cases with an element of skill, such as craps, roulette, baccarat, blackjack, and video poker. Most games have mathematically determined odds that ensure the house has at all times an advantage over the players. This can be expressed more precisely by the notion of expected value, which is uniformly negative. This advantage is called the house edge. In games such as poker where players play against each other, the house takes a commission called the rake. Casinos sometimes give out complimentary items or comps to gamblers.
Payout is the percentage of funds returned to players. Video lottery machines have become one of the most popular forms of gambling in casinos. investigative reports have started calling into question whether the modern-day slot-machine is addictive.
Design
Factors influencing gambling tendencies include sound, odour and lighting. Natasha Dow Schüll, an anthropologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, highlights the decision of the audio directors at Silicon Gaming to make its slot machines resonate in "the universally pleasant tone of C, sampling existing casino soundscapes to create a sound that would please but not clash".Alan Hirsch, founder of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, studied the impact of certain scents on gamblers, discerning that a pleasant albeit unidentifiable odor released by Las Vegas slot machines generated about 50% more in daily revenue. He suggested that the scent acted as an aphrodisiac, causing a more aggressive form of gambling.
Markets
The following lists major casino markets in the world with casino revenue of over US$1 billion as published in PricewaterhouseCoopers's report onthe outlook for the global casino market:
By region
By market
By company
According to Bloomberg, accumulated revenue of the biggest casino operator companies worldwide amounted to almost US$55 billion in 2011. SJM Holdings Ltd. was the leading company in this field, earning $9.7 billion in 2011, followed by Las Vegas Sands Corp. at $7.4 billion. The third-biggest casino operator company was Caesars Entertainment, with revenue of US$6.2 billion.Significant sites
While there are casinos in many places, a few places have become well known specifically for gambling. Perhaps the place almost defined by its casino is Monte Carlo, but other places are known as gambling centers.Monte Carlo, Monaco
Opened in 1865, Monte Carlo Casino, located in Monte Carlo city, in Monaco, is a casino and a tourist attraction.Monte Carlo Casino has been depicted in books, songs and films. It features prominently in the James Bond films Never Say Never Again and GoldenEye. Casinos feature throughout the Bond series, with the character introducing himself to the world at Les Ambassadeurs Club in Mayfair, London with the line "Bond, James Bond" in Dr. No.
The Monte Carlo Casino is mentioned in the 1891 British music hall song "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo" as well as the 1935 film of the same name. The song was inspired by the exploits of English trickster Charles Wells, who in 1891 "broke the bank" on many occasions on the first two of his three trips to the casino.
The Monte Carlo Casino features in Ben Mezrich's 2005 book Busting Vegas, where a group of students beat the casino out of nearly $1 million. This book is based on real people and events; however, many of those events are contested by main character Semyon Dukach.