The financial heart of any Casino is the cage. Here, players exchange chips for currency. Dealers call this process “changing colors” because the dealer recognizes chips by color. The standard colors for chips in a Casino are white for $1, red for $5, green for $25, and black for $100. Once a player has enough chips, he or she can start playing. While the average player will lose money at some point, there is a significant edge for a good player.

While the greed of people who gamble in casinos can be rewarding, these same people are a huge drain on the economy. The casinos make millions from people addicted to gambling, while only a small proportion of patrons are addicted to the activity. According to statistics, about five percent of casino patrons are addicted. Those five percent account for twenty-five percent of casino profits. However, there have been economic studies pointing to the negative value of casinos to local economies. Casinos tend to shift spending from other forms of local entertainment. Furthermore, the cost of treating problem gamblers and lost productivity from gambling addiction can offset any economic gains that casinos provide.

The idea of a casino began in Italy, where it was first known as a small club. The word ‘casino’ came to symbolize a “house” of a certain size. The original Italian casinos were small, private clubs, and would likely have been a very large square building. But later, as large public gambling houses were closed, the casino was forced to shift gambling into smaller, more intimate establishments. Today, there are more than 200 casinos in the world.