Casino (also known as a gaming establishment or a gambling house) is a place where people can gamble money on various games of chance. These games include slot machines, keno, craps, roulette, and blackjack. Some casinos also offer video poker and other skill-based games. In the United States, there are over 1,000 casinos. The most prominent are in Las Vegas, followed by Atlantic City and Chicago. Many state governments regulate and tax casino gambling.

Gambling has been a popular pastime for thousands of years. Some historians believe that the first casinos were established as places for social gatherings and meetings. In modern times, casinos have become more than just a place to gamble; they also serve as entertainment centers and tourist attractions.

Most casino games have a built in statistical advantage for the house, known as the house edge or vigorish. This advantage can be a small percentage of the total bets, but it is enough to make casinos profitable over time. Casinos use mathematical formulas to determine the odds of various games and to calculate their house edges. Mathematicians who work in this field are called gaming mathematicians or gaming analysts.

Casinos have numerous security measures in place to prevent cheating and stealing by patrons. These include a variety of cameras that monitor the gambling floor, changing windows and doorways. In addition, casinos have an “eye-in-the-sky” surveillance system that uses a room full of security monitors that can be adjusted to focus on suspicious patrons.