Casinos have an intoxicating atmosphere that can make even the most jaded gambler take a step back and marvel. They’re a place where champagne glasses clink, locals and tourists mingle, the music throbs, the smoke swirls and the lights flash. It’s a place that’s just as much about socializing as it is trying your luck at gambling.

In the end, there’s one certainty in gambling – the house always wins. Every game in a casino has a built-in statistical advantage for the casino that ensures it will make money, even if each individual patron loses every single bet. This advantage may be only two percent, but over the millions of bets placed by casino patrons it adds up to a lot of money.

This virtual guarantee of gross profit has made casinos the most successful businesses in the world. To keep gamblers coming back, casinos offer them free drinks and cigarettes while they play, comped hotel rooms, limo service and even airline tickets for big bettors.

There’s something about the casino environment that encourages people to cheat, steal and scam their way into winning a jackpot. That’s why casinos spend a lot of time, effort and money on security. They’re also home to some of the most elaborate surveillance systems that resemble eye-in-the-sky monitors. In many cases, these cameras can be adjusted to focus on suspicious patrons by casino employees working in a separate room filled with banks of security monitors.