The Biggest and Most Popular Casinos in the World

While online casinos have gained in popularity, land based ones still have the ability to dazzle visitors with their massive halls and aisles, unique ornamentation, brilliant lighting and plenty of games. There is something about them that attracts masses of newcomers as well as sharks and snazzy high rollers. This article takes a look at some of the biggest and most popular Casinos in the world.

The term ‘casino’ is derived from the Italian word for little house, referring to the small clubhouses where Italians would gather to gamble and socialize before the closure of larger public gambling houses in the second half of the 19th century. These clubs eventually gave way to the more palatial casino buildings that we know today.

Gambling in a casino involves games of chance, though some have an element of skill. The odds are mathematically determined to ensure that the house has an advantage over patrons, known as the house edge. This is especially true for card games such as baccarat, roulette, blackjack and video poker. In games like poker where players play against each other, the house makes its profit by taking a rake, or percentage of each pot.

Casinos employ many security measures to deter cheating and stealing. These include spotting suspicious behavior using cameras that monitor every table, window and doorway in a room filled with banks of surveillance screens. These systems can be adjusted to focus on specific people or even just one player at a time. Most casinos also have elaborate security measures in place for their slot machines, which are wired to a central server and monitored for statistical deviations from expected outcomes.