What Is a Casino?

A casino is a gambling establishment, sometimes combined with a hotel and/or restaurant. Casinos are most known for their gaming rooms where patrons play games of chance such as roulette, blackjack and baccarat. Many casinos also offer entertainment such as concerts and shows.

Casinos are heavily guarded against shady dealings by both armed security and trained casino employees. Observant gamblers may be able to spot the telltale signs of a cheat, such as palming or marking cards or switching dice or cards, but in general the casino’s security staff is better at spotting subtle deviations in game rules. For example, a casino might monitor how much money is being wagered on slot machines minute-by-minute and be alerted to any statistical deviation; table managers and pit bosses watch over the patrons at a poker table to make sure players are not colluding or stealing; and the dealer at a roulette wheel watches for betting patterns that could signal cheating.

The billions of dollars that casinos rake in each year are primarily from gambling games such as slots, poker, baccarat, blackjack, roulette and craps. Musical shows, lighted fountains and hotels are all part of the attraction, but the games themselves drive the profits. While mobster involvement in the early days of casino ownership was not unusual, federal crackdowns and the threat of losing a license at even the slightest hint of mob involvement have kept the mob out of the business for most casinos.