What Is a Casino?

A casino, or gaming house, is an establishment for certain types of gambling. Modern casinos are often combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, and other tourist attractions. The word is derived from the Latin cazino, meaning “gambling place.” Casinos can be found in cities around the world. Some of the most famous include Monte Carlo, Las Vegas, and Macau.

Despite the glamorous veneer, there is no doubt that casinos are, first and foremost, money-making enterprises. Gambling is a risky business, and the odds are always against the player. Casinos know this, and they have built-in advantages to ensure that the house comes out ahead in the long run. These advantages are called the house edge and variance, and they are carefully monitored by mathematically trained people known as gaming mathematicians and analysts.

Because large amounts of cash are handled within a casino, it is important to maintain a high level of security. In addition to a physical security force, most casinos have a specialized surveillance department that oversees the activities of both patrons and employees. Video cameras monitor the casino floor and its patrons, and some casinos even have catwalks suspended above the games that allow surveillance personnel to look directly down on the table tops and slot machines.

The most popular gambling games in a casino are blackjack, poker variants, and roulette. Other popular games include baccarat (known in the United States as chemin de fer), craps, and trente et quarante (a card game played in French-speaking casinos). In many American casinos, the poker tables generate a lot of revenue for the establishment by taking a percentage of each pot or charging an hourly fee to play.