A casino is an establishment for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, and cruise ships. They may also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, concerts, and sports events. In military and non-military usage, a casino (or kasino) is an officers’ mess.
Casinos have a wide variety of games, but table games are the most popular. These include blackjack, roulette, craps, and baccarat. Poker rooms are also very common in casinos and offer players the chance to pit their skills against other people.
In the United States, casinos began appearing in the 1940s and grew rapidly during the 1970s, when Las Vegas became the world’s gambling capital. After that, they expanded to Atlantic City and other areas, including the American Indian reservations. Several American states amended their laws in the 1980s to permit casinos, and many now have them.
Because of the large amount of money handled by a casino, it is possible for both patrons and staff to cheat or steal. To prevent this, most casinos use security measures, such as surveillance cameras. Some casinos have catwalks above the gaming floor that allow personnel to look directly down on the tables and slot machines. In addition, most states have programs to help people with gambling problems, and many casinos have support resources available for their patrons. These examples are automatically selected from various online sources, and may not reflect the views of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
