When most Americans think of a casino, they imagine one of the megaresorts in Las Vegas gleaming with neon lights and offering an array of glitzy games. But a casino is much more than a place to gamble; it’s also a venue for high-end entertainment, fine dining and luxurious accommodations.
Until the late 1970s, most American states considered gambling illegal. This did not stop casinos from operating, often on Native American reservations which were exempt from state antigambling laws. However, it was another forty-five years before the first legal casino opened outside of Nevada in Atlantic City. A second wave of change came in the 1980s, when New Jersey and several other states allowed casino gambling.
Today, casino gambling is available in 40 states. Those states are home to nearly 1,000 casinos. The number of casinos is growing steadily, and interstate competition has played a role in the expansion. The most prominent and profitable casinos are located in Nevada, followed by New Jersey and Chicago.
While casinos depend on gamblers to make money, they also employ mathematicians and computer programmers who work to ensure fairness. This includes calculating the house edge and variance for each game; determining the odds of winning and losing. The casinos rely on these figures to predict their long-term profitability, and to determine the amount of cash they must have in reserve for bad bets. These professionals are sometimes called gaming mathematicians or gaming analysts.