From the flamboyant skyscrapers of Las Vegas to the illegal pai gow parlors in New York’s Chinatown, casinos draw huge numbers of visitors from around the world. Whether you’re into poker, blackjack, roulette or the more exotic Far Eastern games such as sic bo, the casino is a magnet for gamblers and nongamblers alike.
While the music and dance shows, fountains, shopping centers and hotels that dot the landscape may help lure in the customers, casinos would not exist without gambling. Slot machines, craps, keno and baccarat provide the billions of dollars in profits that help fund casinos’ dazzling themes, spectacular hotels and enormous fountains, pyramids and towers.
The interior design of a casino is designed to promote gambling by stimulating the senses. Gamblers are surrounded by noise and light, and the floors and walls are often brightly colored. The brighter colors such as red are thought to make gamblers lose track of time and encourage them to play. Casinos also offer a variety of food and drinks, usually for free, and have no clocks on the walls to further blur the lines between time and space.
Security is another key component of a casino. Many of the casino’s patrons follow predictable patterns in their behavior, and it’s easy for security to spot deviations from those patterns. Casinos use cameras, often mounted in the ceiling, to watch every table, window and doorway, and can adjust them to focus on suspicious patrons.