What Is a Casino?

A Casino is a place where people can find a variety of gambling games under one roof. These establishments are often located near hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and/or other tourist attractions. Casinos generate billions of dollars in revenue each year for the companies, investors, and Native American tribes that operate them.

Casinos use a variety of methods to prevent cheating. Typical security measures include the use of cameras to monitor patrons and games, the use of table chips with microcircuitry that can communicate with gaming machines, and the use of sophisticated electronic monitoring systems to discover statistical deviations in game results. Casinos also employ a team of security personnel to spot blatant cheating activities such as palming, marking cards or dice, and switching bets between games.

Gambling probably began in the ancient world, with primitive protodice (cut knuckle bones) and carved six-sided dice being found at some archaeological sites. But the casino as a place for organized gambling did not develop until the 16th century, when Europeans enjoyed a gaming craze. Wealthy Italian aristocrats would hold private parties, called ridotti, in which they could gamble and enjoy food, drink, and entertainment.

Organized crime syndicates controlled many of the early casinos in Reno and Las Vegas, but federal crackdowns and mob fears eventually drove them out. Real estate developers and hotel chains with deep pockets bought them out, and today they are the major operators of casinos.