Security Measures at a Casino

A casino is a place where people can play gambling games. These games include slot machines, blackjack, roulette, craps and keno. Casinos also offer stage shows, restaurants and shopping centers. While these luxuries help bring in the crowds, casinos would not exist without games of chance. These games provide the billions in profits a year that casinos rake in.

While casino employees are trained to spot blatant cheating, some patrons still find ways to beat the house. To prevent this, many casinos employ a wide array of security measures. Often, these are technical: video cameras monitor the games and patrons for suspicious activity; poker tables have special chips with built-in microcircuitry that enable casinos to oversee the exact amounts wagered minute by minute; and roulette wheels are electronically monitored regularly to discover any statistical deviations from expected results.

In addition to technological monitoring, casinos have rules of conduct and behavior that discourage criminal activity. For example, dealers are required to clap their hands together and spread them apart before leaving a table, which helps eliminate the possibility that they’re palming cards.

Something about gambling (maybe it’s the presence of large sums of money) encourages people to cheat or steal, which is why casinos devote so much time and effort to security. The mob once controlled a good portion of the business, but real estate investors and hotel chains eventually realized the potential profits and bought out the mobsters. Today, federal crackdowns and the threat of losing a gaming license at the slightest whiff of mafia involvement keep organized crime out of the business.