Since the early 1960s casinos have operated on the assumption that while black jack or roulette might be their main revenue stream, it is important to offer other incentives as well to keep occasional gamblers coming back to the tables. Of course, there is more to casinos than just gambling. Equally popular are the continuous hovercrafts linking Hong Kong and Macao, and the daily flights to Las Vegas from airports around the globe. For most, proximity is the deciding factor, as in the case of places like Atlantic City where shuttle buses crammed with tourists run 24 hours a day.
Worldwide, although no hard figures exist, the number could be estimated to be double that.įrom the glittering lights of the Las Vegas strip to the illegal pai gow parlors of New York's Chinatown, there is a wide range of casinos from which these potential 100 million people can choose. And that's only the number of people who visited casinos domestically-and legally. gaming industry grew by 3%, from $25.7 billion to $26.5 billion. population over 21-visited a casino in 2002. According to the Washington, D.C.-based American Gaming Association, about 51 million people-a group equivalent to roughly one quarter of the U.S.
