What Is a Casino?

A casino is a gambling establishment that offers a variety of games of chance and sometimes some skill. It also provides food, drinks and entertainment. There have been less elaborate places that housed gambling activities that could have been called casinos, but most casinos add a lot of extras to attract and keep customers. They are designed to be euphoric and exciting, and they use noise, bright lights, and excitement to persuade people to gamble and stay longer. They also make money by offering complimentary goods and services, or comps, to gamblers.

The most lucrative players are referred to as “high rollers,” and they usually gamble in special rooms that are separate from the main casino floor. They usually spend tens of thousands of dollars at a time. To reward them for their play, casinos offer free hotel rooms and suites, meals and shows, reduced-fare transportation and other extravagant inducements. These high-rollers generate a large percentage of a casino’s revenue.

Something about the way casinos are set up encourages cheating and stealing by patrons, whether in collusion or independently. As a result, many casinos spend a lot of money on security. Their eyes-in-the-sky surveillance systems have cameras that watch every table, change window and doorway. They can be adjusted to focus on suspicious patrons by workers in a room filled with banks of security monitors. In addition to the surveillance, most casinos have trained staff members who look for suspicious behavior, and they often employ undercover agents.