A casino is a gambling establishment where people can play games of chance for money. Although casinos add many other elements to draw in patrons such as restaurants, free drinks and stage shows, they would not exist without the games of chance themselves, which generate billions of dollars in profits each year.

The house edge is the percentage of money that the casino expects to lose on each bet made by a player. It is usually determined by the rules of a particular game and it may be modified with betting systems, such as counting cards, that attempt to increase a player’s advantage over the dealer.

There are a number of security measures in place to prevent cheating and other illegal activity at casinos. Security starts on the casino floor, where workers watch players and monitor games for irregularities. For instance, dealers have a close view of their games and can spot blatant cheating like palming or marking dice. Pit bosses and table managers have a wider view of the tables and can detect patterns of behavior that suggest cheating. Elaborate surveillance systems offer a high-tech eye-in-the-sky, where cameras are mounted in the ceiling and can be adjusted to focus on specific patrons.

In addition to monitoring the floor, casino security is aided by the use of computer chips. These chips, called microcircuitry, interact with the machines and record the results of each bet. Casinos can then monitor these chips minute-by-minute, and be alerted to any anomalies.