A casino, also known as a gambling house or a gaming establishment, is an establishment where people can gamble. Some casinos are standalone buildings, while others are built into hotels or resorts. The casino industry generates billions of dollars annually for the companies, investors, and Native American tribes that operate them. In addition, the industry benefits from compulsive gamblers who generate a disproportionate share of casino profits.
Casinos have a long history in the United States. In the 1950s, Las Vegas was a “hotbed of organized crime,” with mafia figures controlling large parts of the business. Mob money gave casinos a tainted image, and legitimate businessmen were reluctant to invest in them. Eventually, the mobsters ran out of cash and began to look elsewhere for investment opportunities. Then Nevada voters legalized casinos, bringing in more and more tourists to the state. In the 1980s, several other American states amended their laws to allow for casinos.
Modern casinos have a two-pronged security approach: a physical force that patrols the floor and a specialized surveillance department. These departments work together closely, allowing them to respond quickly to calls for assistance or reports of suspicious or definite criminal activity. Elaborate surveillance systems offer a high-tech eye-in-the-sky, with cameras monitoring every table, window, and doorway. These systems can be adjusted to focus on specific suspicious patrons by security workers in a separate room filled with banks of monitors. The camera images are recorded, so if a crime or cheating occurs, the video tapes can be reviewed to catch the culprit.