A casino is a gambling establishment where patrons can wager money on games of chance. Casinos also offer a variety of entertainment and dining options. Some are famous for their dancing fountains and high-end restaurants, while others are known for the movies they inspire (Ocean’s 11 is set in the Bellagio). Regardless of what a casino offers, all casinos rely on a game of chance to earn the billions of dollars they rake in every year.

As disposable income increases around the world, the number of people who visit casinos is growing rapidly. According to the American Gaming Association, 51 million Americans visited a casino in 2002. The average casino visitor is a forty-six-year-old woman with a household income above the national average. These older women and their families make up the largest group of casino gamblers.

Casinos invest large sums of money in security measures to prevent cheating and theft. There are several ways to do this, including installing cameras throughout the casino and training casino staff to watch for patterns in their patrons’ behavior. Something about gambling (probably the presence of large amounts of money) seems to encourage some people to try and cheat or steal their way to a winning jackpot.

Many people assume that casinos are a place to sit around a table and play cards with other players, but most modern casino games do not involve a physical card deck. Instead, the games of chance are played in an electronic environment that is regulated by computer chips. The games are designed so that the house has a built-in statistical advantage, which makes it impossible for most players to win all their bets.