ABSTRACT
In addition to its economic functions, a casino is also a cultural carrierthe product of a specifi c social history with various levels of specifi city that are local and regional as well as global. The global aspects of casino culture are the easiest to see. Walk into any casino anywhere and everything appears to be organized in much the same way, with similar games and procedures, cards and devices. An experienced casino gambler, with certain specifi c expectations, can travel from one side of the globe to the other, enter a casino, and immediately know what to do. At this level, the casino provides the player with a familiar playing fi eld within a global, transnational casino culture. But look below the surface and further specifi cities abound, both in player expectation and organization. Though international standards exist, casinos are also run under more specifi c cultural premises that may not be so readily apparent. Love of gambling is entrenched in Chinese culture-a good reason for anyone to open a casino in the greater Chinese world-but more specifi c cultural knowledge is required to operate a successful casino. For example, in Nevada most casino revenue is from
slot machines, but in Macau, most comes from baccarat tables. The difference is cultural. Americans like playing with machines but proportionally more Chinese than Americans prefer to play with people and not machines. But there can be deeper organizational differences, also based on specifi c, often very localized, cultural premises and preferences, and these differences may be among the most signifi cant for the organization of casino gambling anywhere in the world.
