Top Ten Casinos
Whether you’re throwing the dice at a craps table, hitting the slots or putting on your best poker face, casinos are the ultimate in decadence. Decked out in opulent furnishings and overflowing bars, these gambling temples are designed to satisfy your every gambling whim. So if you’re looking to get your fix, check out these top ten casinos where you can gamble your heart out.
Gambling has long been a popular pastime, with primitive protodice and carved six-sided dice dating back millennia. But the casino as we know it today developed in the 16th century, during a gambling craze that swept Europe. Originally, casinos were small private clubs for Italian aristocrats, known as ridotti, where they would play a variety of games to satiate their gambling jones. The concept was eventually copied in other parts of Europe, and public gambling houses became popular. By the 19th century, casinos had become very elaborate establishments that offered a wide range of games under one roof.
The most famous of these is the Casino de Monte-Carlo, which was founded in 1863 and remains to this day the largest casino in the world. Casinos have also gained popularity in America, with many appearing on American Indian reservations that are exempt from state antigambling laws. The industry has boomed in the past decade as disposable income around the globe has increased and more people are able to travel. As a result, casinos have grown to be even larger than ever before, competing with each other to provide the most luxurious experience possible.
In addition to the lavish hotels and rooms, large casinos often feature high-end restaurants and bars as well as an array of entertainment options like stage shows and stand-up comedy. Many of these massive casino-hotel complexes also offer water slides and other fun activities for families and non-gamblers.
Casino security is another major concern for these mega-gambling resorts, and they employ a variety of tactics to keep patrons safe. For example, some casinos have catwalks built into the ceiling that allow security personnel to look directly down on the tables and slots through one-way glass. Others have live action cameras that monitor the gambling floor.
While some people may view a casino as an extravagant place to waste money, the fact is that casinos are businesses that must make a profit in order to survive. This is why they have a built-in statistical advantage for their games, which is known as the house edge. This can be very small, but over time it adds up and allows the casinos to generate enormous profits. For this reason, it is very rare for a casino to lose money. For this reason, the houses edge is often used as an argument against legalizing gambling.