A casino is a public place where usually you play games of skill or luck in order to win cash. The word “casino” itself suggests “a place where people play blackjack.” In common use, however, it indicates a location where people can play any games they like, provided that they don’t spend more than they can afford. Although there is sometimes gambling involved in a casino, in most locations a player must wager real money, which is under state and local laws.
Casinos in the United States are scattered throughout the country. They are mainly based on gambling activities, such as card or video games, craps, roulette, baccarat and other forms of gambling. Most American players at a casino will be playing a game of chance. However, in many European and Asian countries, the location of the casino and the services offered therein are used to signal the types of gaming that will be available for that location.
Casinos in the United States began in the late nineteenth century with the formation of what was then called the “woodshed” or “snake track.” These early casinos had poor lighting and poor flooring and furniture. They had no security, no gambling devices and no restaurants. They catered to people who wanted to gamble but who did not want to go out to the restaurants where they might risk getting drunk. As these early casinos grew in size and clientele, they began to offer more complex gambling games, such as slot machines.
Gambling in the United States has become a very lucrative business. In Atlantic City, New Jersey, for example, the strip joints and hotels alone generate about thirty-five million dollars in revenue each year. Many cities, such as Las Vegas, also have large numbers of these gambling facilities. The rapid growth of these cities and the associated infrastructure have also contributed to the increase in the number of people who visit these cities to gamble. Atlantic City is just one example of a mid-sized US city that has seen its population grow over the past fifteen years.
Over the last twenty years or so, however, there has been a dramatic decline in tourist spending in these and other cities because of the emergence of a new breed of casinos in Mexico, which are much more lax when it comes to safety standards and customer service. Some observers have characterized the emergence of these new casinos as a direct result of the collapse of the American casino industry in the mid-nineties. A main article in this series attempts to determine if the phenomenon of casino migration can be explained by such a trend.
A main article in this series examines whether the recent rise of the internet casinos and the casinos that allow you to play online have affected the migration of the glitzy, high-roller style of gambling. The authors conclude that this migration is being driven by a combination of factors, including the desire for more casual games, the rising prevalence of mobile gambling on phones and the rise in the number of new casinos opening across the country. In addition to this, some argue that the increased availability of casino software has also contributed to this trend. If you are planning to move to an area with a concentration of one or more internet casinos, this may be one of the factors that might influence your choice.
