The elegant spa town of Baden-Baden was a playground for European royalty and aristocracy 150 years ago, and even today its casino is considered one of the world’s most beautiful. Its red chandeliers and high ceilings soar forty feet overhead, with a plethora of table games and slot machines scattered throughout.
Gambling is a popular pastime for many people, and the modern casino is like an indoor amusement park for adults, raking in billions of dollars in profits each year. Musical shows and lighted fountains help draw in the crowds, but the casinos would not exist without the games of chance that attract players, such as roulette, blackjack, craps, keno, video poker and baccarat.
While there is an element of skill involved in some gambling, the vast majority of games have a mathematical advantage for the casino, known as the house edge. This advantage can be very small, but when applied over millions of bets, it adds up to a significant amount of money. Casinos collect this money from patrons in the form of a commission, called the vig or rake.
To stay competitive, casinos focus on attracting large numbers of regular customers, who often play multiple games and spend significant amounts of money. They offer them comps, such as free show tickets, luxury suites and reduced-fare transportation, and they track their spending patterns through a card that patrons swipe before each game. This allows the casino to develop a player database and target advertising to specific types of gamblers.
