The lure of the world’s most famous casinos is undeniable. These gaudy, spectacular, flamboyant cathedrals to consumerism have a magnetic pull that draws everyone from high rollers seeking the thrill of winning to tourists looking for an unforgettable experience.
In its most extravagant incarnation, the Grand Lisboa is a colossus that rises out of Macao’s cityscape like a birdcage, crowned by the largest LED dome in the world and lit with over a million LED lights. Inside, it lives up to this surface decadence, with 800 casino tables and a mind-boggling number of slot machines spread out over several large and fabulously decorated floors.
Casinos are designed with a single goal in mind, to make money. As such, they have a whole host of built-in advantages that guarantee them a gross profit over the long term. This advantage is known as the house edge, and it means that a casino will win more than it loses in the long run.
This advantage is reflected in the fact that it’s very rare for any gambler to walk away with a loss in a casino. But the odds aren’t entirely in the casino’s favor. Gambling in its many forms has been a part of human civilization for millennia. Evidence of dice games dates back to 2300 BC, and card games were first recorded in the 1400s. Casinos began to appear in the United States during the 1980s, first in Atlantic City and then on American Indian reservations, where they were exempt from state antigambling laws.
