A casino is an establishment for certain types of gambling. Some casinos are standalone, while others are part of or attached to hotels, resorts, restaurants, cruise ships or other tourist attractions. Casinos may also offer a wide range of entertainment, such as live music and comedy shows. In the United States, the term casino often refers to a large building that contains multiple gaming tables and slot machines. The term can also refer to a small, private club where gambling is permitted.

The opulent spa town of Baden-Baden was once the playground of European royalty and aristocracy; now its casinos are among the most decadent on earth. With their red and gold poker rooms, blackjack tables and a plethora of roulette wheels, these palaces of temptation elevate the art of wagering to an absolute art form.

In the world of casino card games, baccarat is the principal game in Europe and France, where casinos reduce their advantage to less than 1 percent to attract big bettors. Craps draws a similarly large crowd, while blackjack and trente et quarante are commonplace in American casinos. Most casinos make their money by offering a variety of poker variants, where patrons play against each other and the house takes a percentage of the pot or charges an hourly fee for playing.

Given the high amounts of currency handled within a casino, both patrons and staff can be tempted to cheat and steal. For this reason, most modern casinos have a specialized security department that patrols the premises and responds to reports of suspicious or definite criminal activity. In addition, a closed circuit television system (CCTV) monitors the entire casino, and one-way glass allows surveillance personnel to look directly down on the games tables and slot machines.