Casino
Casinos are everywhere in Macau. Pictured here are the Wynn Macau, Casino Lisboa and Grand Lisboa.
A casino is a building that accommodates certain types of gambling games and activities. Customers may gamble by playing slot machines or other games of chance and some skill (e.g., craps, roulette—for more see casino games). Game rules usually have mathematically-determined odds that ensure the house retains an advantage over the players. This advantage is called the edge. Payout is the percentage given to players. In games such as poker, the house takes a commission (a "rake") on bets players make against each other. Casinos are often placed near or combined with hotels, restaurants and other vacation attractions to encourage long stays.
The term originally meant a small villa, summerhouse or pavilion built for pleasure, usually on the grounds of a larger Italian villa or palazzo. There are examples of such casinos at Villa Giulia and Villa Farnese. During the 19th century, the term casino came to include other more public buildings where pleasurable activities, including gambling and sports, took place. An example of this type of building is the Newport Casino. Eventually this term in Italian now designates a bordello (also called "casa chiusa" literally "closed house"), while the gambling house is spelled casinò with an accent.
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Casino Night
High rollers in "Casino Night"
A Casino Night (also called Vegas Nights, Las Vegas Nights, Monte Carlo Nights, Casino Parties) is an entertainment event with a casino theme.
Casino Night Parties are usually tied to a fundraiser, and are often held on riverboats, in churches, hotels etc. The main objective of most casino night parties is to raise money for a specific cause (such as cancer research, community services, etc) by having each participant purchase a ticket for the event. Each participant receives a specific amount of play money that can be used to purchase gaming chips at the gambling tables. The participants engage in various casino games (such as blackjack, roulette, baccarat, craps, poker, wheel of fortune, etc.) in the attempt to accumulate the largest amount of gaming chips. At the end of the evening the participant who managed to win the most chips receives some kind of prize.
Casino Nights function strictly as entertainment events with no real gambling involved.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Casino token
One dollar chips from various Las Vegas casinos.
Casino tokens are small colored metal or plastic discs used in gambling establishments in lieu of currency or coins.
There are two types of tokens used in casinos: multicolor tokens of various denominations called chips, used primarily in table games; and metal token coins, used primarily in slot machines.
Money is exchanged for the token coins or chips in a casino at a cashier station (the cage), at the gaming tables, or at a slot machine. The tokens are interchangeable with money at the casino, but have no value outside of the establishment.
These tokens are employed for several reasons. They are more convenient to use than currency, and also make theft more difficult. Because of the uniform size and regularity of stacks of chips, they are easier to count than paper currency when used on a table. They also allow the pit boss or security to quickly verify the amount being paid, reducing the chance that a dealer might be overpaying a customer.
Furthermore, it is observed that consumers gamble more freely with replacement currencies than with cash.
Finally, the chips are considered to be an integral part of the casino environment, and replacing them with some alternate currency would be unpopular. However, many casinos are moving to paper receipts.
Casino tokens are collected as a part of numismatics, more specifically as specialized exonumia collecting.
Chip Denominations
Chips of the same denomination from different casinos tend to have similar colors. This increases familiarity with denominations.
The most common color scheme used in US casinos:
- $1.00: White (uncommon: blue, grey)
- $2.50: Pink
- $5.00: Red
- $25.00: Green
- $100.00: Black
- $500.00: Purple
- $1000.00: Orange (often oversized)
History
After the increase in the value of silver stopped the circulation of silver dollar coins around 1964, casinos rushed to find a substitute, as most slot machines at that time used that particular coin. The Nevada Gaming Board consulted with the US Treasury, and casinos were soon allowed to start using their own tokens to operate their slot machines. The Franklin Mint was the main minter of tokens at that time.
In many jurisdictions, casinos are not permitted to use currency in slot machines, necessitating tokens for smaller denominations.
Tokens are being phased out of many casinos in favor of coinless machines which accept banknotes and print receipts for payout. (These receipts can also be inserted into the machines.)
Future
In certain casinos, such as the new Wynn Casino in Las Vegas, chips are embedded with RFID to help casinos keep better track of them, determine gamblers' average bet sizes, and to make them harder for counterfeiters to reproduce. However, this technique is considered by many to be unnecessary and unlikely to be used for certain games, such as craps.
Links
- Silver State Treasures
- Casino Chip & Gaming Tokens Collectors Club
- ChipGuide - Online Information Source For Casino Chip Collectors
- Shuffle Master RFID chips
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Cheating in casinos
Cheating in casinos refers to cheating the games played in casinos.
Casino cheating is usually defined as actions which against the rules of the casino. Cheating may or may not be illegal depanding on the jurisdiction of the casino.
Methods of cheating
The methods for cheating in a casino are often specific to individual games.
- Pastposting
- After a bet is won, one replaces smaller denomination chips with chips of large denomination.
- Card counting
- Keeping track of which cards have been played at such games as Blackjack. Technically not cheating because the card counter is doing nothing to affect the odds of the game, but is using all available information to make intelligent wagering decisions.
- Hand Mucking
- Palming desirable cards then switching them for less desirable cards that the gambler holds.
- Marking Cards During Play
- Various methods.
- Introducing Previously Marked Decks Into Play
- Usually involves "inside" help, i.e., the collusion of casino employees. There are many different way to mark decks of cards, some of them very difficult to detect.
- False Deals
- Ability to deal the second card from the top (used in conjunction with marked cards), or the ability to deal the bottom card of the deck (used in conjunction with placing desirable cards at the bottom of the deck.)
- False Shuffles and Cuts
- Ability to seemingly mix and cut the cards while retaining certain cards or the whole deck in a desired order.
- Slot Machines
- Methods exist for altering the outcome of slot machine games.
- Collusion
- In poker games, the practice of two partners signalling to each other the values of their cards; this can be very difficult to detect.
How casinos combat cheating
- Proper Procedure
- This means certain standardized ways of shuffling cards, dealing cards, storing, retrieving and opening new decks of cards, etc.
- Eyes in the Sky
- Most casinos have an extensive array of cameras and recorders which monitor and record all the action in a casino. Some casinos use facial recognition software to detect known cheats or card counters/advantage players as they enter the casino.
- Software
- Casinos use software to analyze game play to uncover any unusual betting patterns or winning patterns and thus discern cheaters, card counters, and "advantage players".
References
- Casino Protection Protection -- A Comprehensive Guide
- is a textbook designed for casino employees written by an expert in the field, Steve Forte. Published in 2005 for $200, it is an expensive but very thorough volume: http://www.casinogameprotection.com/index.html
Links
- Game Cheat - Systems, Strategies, Tips & Tricks
- Game FAQ - Help you to succeed in online casino gambling
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Croupier
A croupier is the person who takes and pays out bets at a gambling table, often in a casino. The croupier is standing in for the house but usually has no personal stake in the game. Games that commonly use croupiers are blackjack, roulette, baccarat and craps.
The word may also be used to refer to the person who sits as assistant chairman at the lower end of the table at a dinner party.
The modern usage derives from Old French, where it referred to the hindmost person of two riding the same horse. The word croup referred to the rump of a quadruped; a person who rides behind another person on a horse is seated on the animal's rump, hence the name.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Internet Casino Directory
Jazzsports.com- Online casino and sports betting
Casino Lunch - Online Casino Games & Poker
Experience gaming and poker excitement with a Licensed Online Casino.
Locals Casino
Sam's Town Hotel and Gambling Hall is a hotel and casino located in Sunrise Manor, Nevada on the Boulder Strip.
A locals casino is a casino designed to attract residents of the area in which it was built rather then tourists or vacationers. The term is most commonly associated with Las Vegas.
Locals casinos usually have a different mix of games then other casinos in the area. They usually offer higher payouts, with some video poker machines offers payout of greater than 100%, to attract the those who live in the area. Local casinos can range from locations with fewer than 15 machines like in a bar with no lodging to resorts that have hundreds of machines and hotels with hundreds of rooms.
Locals casinos in Vegas will offer games not available in Strip casinos like bingo. They frequently include bowling, movie theaters and ocassionally day care.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.