Debunking notions about and Demystifying Casinos

To best understand casinos, we have to reflect so much on our everyday encounters and realities. We live in a peculiar world where almost nothing can be guaranteed. Simply put, not even when someone has done all the best to get something, it may just slip away. Top in this reality comes the question of betting with chances and working with or against odds. Any honest person will agree that each day in life is much of a gamble with so many uncertainties. This explanation and more others best explain how casinos work and what players need to be much aware of. Casinos work with betting on odds and chances. However, the disclaimer  to only  bet with what you are ready to lose. 

To slightly tickle our imaginations, at the mention of casinos, some people may begin thinking about Las Vegas, a city in Nevada that leads its financial, cultural, and commercial operations and serves as the entertainment capital of the world. This city has drawn its popularity and world acclaim as hosting some of the extremely luxurious large casinos and hotels together with its exciting activities. I guess this is the real reason why most people imagine a casino as a megaresort found in Las Vegas city. In fact, so many will have to be excused for  imagining a casino as this massive hotel and an entertainment complex standing somewhere filled with neon lights, games and lots of fun. 

Getting real, up close and candid about Casinos-Here’s their DNA

Casinos basically exist in all shapes and sizes, some are very huge and others are just some small businesses. Better still, the casinos are simple online platforms which have really become common with us today. A single search on the internet will be enough to give an impression of the multitude of online casinos in existence today. 

What really defines a casino is the types of gambling offered rather than just the sparkling, glamour, and glitz. But in simple terms, casinos operate and offer a wide range of gambling activities. Usually, you would see casinos located near or may be joined together with other facilities. Common facilities associated with Casinos include resorts, hotels, shopping centres, restaurants, cruise ships, and probably places of tourists’ attractions. 

Some casinos are famous for hosting live entertainment. So, don’t be surprised to find stand-up comedians, concerts and some sort of sports going on in a casino. If you are a gambler or simply enjoy things to do with gambling this is probably your would-be place. It defines a very exciting industry with specific establishments majorly engaging in the operation of gambling facilities. There is always a variety presented to you and all you can do is make a choice. 

Brief History of Casinos 

It may be corroborated that casinos started in Italy with the root meaning of the phrase “casa.” Casa in Italian means a house. Nonetheless, the word casino also means a summer house, a small country villa, or even something like a social club. In the 19th century, a casino later had other public facilities with pleasurable activities going on. Such buildings however, were mostly enacted on the Italian villa or palazzo grounds. The buildings were mainly used for hosting civic functions like dancing, listening to music, sports, and gambling.

However, in present day Italy, a casino is a brothel by name “chiusa” to mean a closed house, full of a mess, noisy environment and a gaming house. Did you even know that not all casinos are actually used for gaming? Yes, the Catalina Casino on Santa Catalina Island in California for instance, has never been used for any traditional gambling. The games of chance were already deterred by the law limits in California by the time Catalina Casino came into existence.

Casinos were not used for Gambling in some areas

It was not only in California that casinos weren’t used for gambling activities. The Copenhagen city in Denmark, presents the Copenhagen Casino which was mainly a Danish theatre and a venue for hosting public meetings especially in the 1848 Revolution. It was famous for making Denmark become a constitutional monarchy. Let’s not forget about how a casino has also been used for both military and non-military usage. In Germany, a casino is termed a “Kasino ” and in Spanish it’s still a casino to both mean an officers’ mess.

But for quite a long time now, casinos have remained to be a form of entertainment for millions of Americans. Las Vegas is already a home of gambling coming after Disneyworld and New York cities which also remain to be the common tourist attraction centres. Today, most casinos have table wagering games in a mixture with some other gambling activities like sports betting and slot machines. In there, you are provided with food and beverages, there are hotels, dining, swimming pools, entertainment and even convention rooms.

Where did Gambling Start?

Nobody really knows the exact origin of gambling but it is a fact that in one way or the other, gambling has existed in almost every society historically. Everyone of us has at one point in time gambled. It doesn’t really mean that you had to like to literally try your luck with the games of chance. Who has never gambled with their thoughts? You sit and contemplate on your ideas and moves, then decide to go with one believing it will get you somewhere. Yes, you have gambled.

Perhaps I should remind you or just joggle your understanding on what gambling really means. Gambling they say is the betting or staking of a valuable thing, with consciousness of hope but at the same time a risk towards a final good outcome. The resulting outcome is always determined by chance or accident and sometimes even unexpected. For a simpler way to understand, gambling is a game of chance and skill. 

Tracing Gambling from Back in the day

Gambling has been in existence since the days of ancient Mesopotamia, the Greeks, Romans, to Napoleon’s France and even Elizabeth of England. There is so much interesting history filled with entertainment based on games of chance. But for as much is documented and publicly known, it all began in Italy, the Ridotto in Venice. It is quite astonishing that as early as 1638, gambling was already in place and very much regulated by the Great Council of Venice.

In America however, the early gambling facilities were called saloons where travellers could find people to talk to as they enjoyed their drinks, then gamble. However, in the early 20th century, the US state legislation prohibited gambling but it was later restored through legalisation throughout the state of Nevada. This is where it all started in the US, the home of all casinos, the den of all casino entertainment, Las Vegas in Nevada.

What Really Goes on in a casino?

For real cases, casinos mostly have gambling running. By any chance there are other activities going on inside a casino, they could just be the side-lines. In simple terms, those side things would be intended to keep the main activity going. Basically, a casino gambling entails games of chance and skill played at the tables or machines. It is very possible to find casino games going on in megaresorts or sometimes even in small card rooms. Very interesting entertainment and escapades in there but should be left alone to the professional gamblers. 

Any building designated as a casino comprises of establishments used in operating gambling facilities. These gambling facilities offer table games and other gambling activities like sports betting and slot machines. While there, you can also find food and beverage services. The customers will gamble by playing games of chance but must employ some element of skill to win. In a typical casino, we have poker games, craps, roulette, baccarat, video games and blackjack.

Structure of Casino Games

Most of the games inside the casino have the element of mathematically determined odds that ensures the house always has a great advantage over the players. No wonder, most governments find gambling illegal since they perceive exploitation of players. The notion of expected value kills it all as it remains uniformly negative. Most people well know it as the house edge. These games that you would play in a casino especially poker, the house is entitled to a commission called rake.

The beautiful scenery and imaginations of floating casinos operating on boats and ships across the country is quite enticing. Casino game machines have made their way to racetracks to become what we now know as racinos. In the US, some casino game machines are allowed in truck stops, grocery stores, bars, and other particular businesses. Seems to me like the business community in this industry, have also realised the love that most people have for such games. The goal is to attract more and more customers and bring them as close as possible. 

Games in the Casino

In the casino, there are a number of games going on. As part of the daily activities happening in a casino, an offer of  various games must be in. This includes card games, domino, dice, slot machine games, and gambling tools for instance, the roulette wheel. Some of the games in the casino are banked and the house must have a commission from the outcome. As a matter of fact, the games in the casino appear to be simple, yet require very selective and skilful steps to win. 

Banked games like poker, craps, roulette, keno, blackjack, and traditional slot machines, are the games which have the house betting against the players. Whatever the outcome of the game, the house must collect its stake commonly known as a rake. However, sometimes there could be some complimentary items offered by the casinos or even a casino offering comps to gamblers. 

Interesting Games played in Casinos

Casinos also offer unbanked games where your pay-out and the house’s commission will be determined by the number of players or the amount at stake. This will totally not be determined by the outcome of such a game. Besides, there are also percentage games in the casino which has the house collecting a share from the amount placed on a bet.

More practically, in a traditional poker game, you get to bank your own games. Here, you will put your own money into the pot and go ahead to compete against your opponent who also has their money at stake. The motive of all the players in this case remains to win the pot yet a portion of the pot will be taken by the house. Another form of this game will have the players competing for a posted pay-out schedule for winning hands and not a pot.

The Most Popular Casino Games

There is no doubt that machine games are by far the most popular games in the casino. One thing about them is tat they are very easy  to operate. They can also offer large pay-outs even from small stakes. However, there are some casinos still offering the old-fashioned slot machines though most gaming machines are presently electronic. 

In the past, the slot machines would let you insert a coin into a slot to ignite you to play. Each slot machine consisted of a metal box harbouring three reels each decorated all round with symbols. The decorations will mostly take the form of fruits, spades, diamonds, hearts, or clubs. When the gambler moves the machine handle, the reels randomly spin until they slowly halt. If a matching sequence of symbols is the outcome after the reels stopped, then the player won.

The Casinos of the 21st century

Today, the control of most of these games happen on computers from very strict technical specifications with a computer programming technique. The computer programming technique is the random number generation where a computer chip in every machine determines the percentage pay-out. It is more like a high-tech video game which offers you with the graphics and sound.

The design of some of these machine games in the casino gives the mimic look and the feel of reel machines. Electronic slot machines will always have a variety of games for you but poker is the most popular one. They have a massive variety of names;

What you can make-out of the Odds Against Gambler Notion

Openly, casinos are for a better part businesses. Whatever form or shape that they take, they have to bring back returns in order to stay operational. Stated earlier, most casino games are operating from mathematically determined odds which are always against the gamblers but to the advantage of the house. If you for instance bet $100 per hour on roulette, you are likely to lose $5 each hour in the long run. It remains the long run concept that often ignored by most gamblers who mainly play the games of chance.

It is this belief that is considered a miscalculated step by the gambler thus the gambler’s fallacy. Each spin of the roulette is an independent one and this means that every colour has a fifty-fifty chance to emerge. It is pretty obvious that most of it is always a calculated move to the advantage of the house. Slot machines also just operate in this same manner. Therefore, to be able to win a casino game, you must have a clear, skilful, and properly calculated move coated with experience.

The Design of a Land-based Casino

The design of a casino comes out as a psychological exercise that carries with it an optimising floor plan. The intricate procedure of designing a casino also has the décor and the atmospherics that are likely to encourage gambling. The design and décor of any casino must be in a way that automatically influences a gambling atmosphere.

The key striking factors that may lure your mood into gambling are likely sound, lighting and odour. One anthropologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Natasha Dow Shull, confirms this perception on factors that are likely to lure you into gambling. She says that the decision once made by the audio directors at the Silicon Gaming is one good example that can explain this. Having the slot machines resonate in a universally appealing tone of C.  The sampling of inbuilt casino soundscapes intended to develop something that would be pleasing and not a clash.

Surprising revelations about Casinos

It would surprise many that there are scents that would greatly have a strong impact on gamblers. But if the scent of someone’s perfume would attract you to them. Chances that you’ll eventually fall in love, why not a scent being able to attract a gambler. Yes, I now believe that scents can attract gamblers and so is Alan Hirsch the founder of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, Chicago.

In Las Vegas casinos, one can readily note of the pleasant but unknown odour coming out of the slot machines. This fancy odour could be something to explain 50% double revenue generated daily by these casinos. The scent is simply arousing or simply intensifies the speed that incite an aggressive motive to want to gamble. So, what really determines the direction of activities in a casino is its particular design.

Types of Casinos

While most casinos have slot machines and table games, it doesn’t really mean that all of them are the same. Not knowing the different types of casinos may put you in the wrong position as you may end up gambling in the wrong place. But let’s quickly learn of the different types of casinos.

The tourist trap casinos are like the casinos present in cruise ships and those in large distances. Have you ever heard of the only queen in town phrase? Yes, these are the types of casinos that exhibit such characteristics. In the US particularly, there are some areas where casino gambling is still illegal. A few miles offshore in the ocean are the demarcated international waters. The ships can operate casino games despite the US regulations. But, this type of casino can be your worst nightmare. The casino slot machines offered here often pay back less than 90%. The best thing to do is to avoid the tourist trap casinos.

These are the kind of big casinos that also have other activities other than gambling. Now this type of casino is the mother of them all. It is in megaresort casinos that you find spas, shopping, golf, entertainment, bars, restaurants among other things. If you are visiting such a place with your spouse or a family member who doesn’t enjoy gambling, then let them enjoy other things. 

A casino could be small and located in the outskirts of the city. The location and size aside, this does not mean that it lost its signature identity. Examples of such casinos exist in Las Vegas where big casinos dominate, but the small ones are also doing great. However, not all small casinos are good so just consider your tastes and preferences.

This slot carries a massive category of casinos but offers different types of casinos. Most popular online casinos have pretty much everything for instance, slot machines and all the other popular table games. While some online casinos have less than 100 slot machines and games, most of them are pretty big. There are others with over 100 different slot machines and dozens table games to offer.

There is no definite number that defines how many online casinos exist. This lack of specific numbers point to the fact that they could be just too many to count or track.  All you need to do is to just find one that fits your preference and taste and have fun.