A casino is a place where people can gamble and play games of chance. Some casinos are large, lavish places with stage shows and dramatic scenery. Others are more like gambling clubs, with a more limited selection of games and less elaborate surroundings. But both types have the same basic function: to provide a place where people can risk money against another person, called the house. In the twenty-first century, almost every country in the world has legalized casinos.
In the United States, the most famous are in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. But they can be found in all fifty states, as well as on Indian reservations and in some overseas countries. Many of these casinos have become popular tourist destinations. In fact, some families take weekend bus trips to their local casinos.
The word “casino” derives from the Italian noun cassa, meaning “small house.” In modern usage it refers to any building or room in which gambling activities are conducted. The term is also used for a group of such buildings, or an entire complex of facilities dedicated to gambling and related activities. Besides the main gaming rooms, these buildings often have restaurants, bars, snack bars, and other entertainment facilities. Some casinos are very elaborate, with fountains, towers, and even miniature replicas of famous landmarks.
Casinos make their money by offering a small statistical advantage to the house on each game played. This edge may be as low as two percent, but it adds up over millions of bets. As a result, casinos seldom lose money, and can afford to offer patrons free drinks, food, transportation, elegant living quarters, and other inducements.
Because of the large amount of money handled within a casino, both staff and patrons may be tempted to cheat or steal, either in collusion or independently. To prevent these actions, casinos have extensive security measures. Some have a high-tech “eye-in-the-sky” surveillance system, where cameras watch every table and change of window at once. Other casinos have a separate room filled with banks of security monitors, which can be adjusted to focus on suspicious patrons by security workers.
Some analysts say that the social costs of casino gambling outweigh the economic benefits. These include the loss of productivity among problem gamblers; the shift in spending from other forms of local entertainment to gambling; and the drain on public funds to treat problem gamblers. In addition, casinos may lower real estate values in the surrounding area.
In the United States, the average casino patron is a forty-six-year-old female from a household with an above-average income. This group has a higher propensity to gamble than older and younger adults. The majority of casino gambling takes place in Nevada, but casinos have also sprung up on American Indian reservations and on riverboats. In the future, the growth of Internet gaming may reduce the number of traditional brick-and-mortar casinos.