A Casino is an establishment that offers different types of gambling activities. The modern casino is like an indoor amusement park for adults, with the vast majority of its entertainment (and profits) coming from games of chance. Slot machines, black jack, roulette, craps and keno provide the billions of dollars in profit raked in by casinos each year.

A casino can be as glitzy and high-tech as Las Vegas or as old-world and intimate as Monaco’s Casino de Monte Carlo. In the United States, there are more than 1,000 casinos, with the greatest concentration in the Las Vegas area. The remainder are scattered around the country, with a few in Chicago and other major cities.

In addition to slot machines and tables, most casinos offer non-gambling attractions such as restaurants, hotels, bars, pools, spas and other amenities. The goal is to make the casino a destination for entire families, rather than just a place to gamble. Musical shows, lighted fountains, shopping centers and elaborate themes all help to attract customers.

The large amounts of money handled within a casino create the potential for both patrons and employees to cheat or steal, either in collusion or independently. For this reason, casinos spend a great deal of time and money on security measures. Some of these are relatively simple, such as security cameras throughout the casino. Other technologies allow for a high-tech “eye-in-the-sky” where casino personnel can monitor the action of every table, window and doorway on a bank of screens in a separate room.