A casino is a place where people wager money on games of chance or skill. The most popular casino games include blackjack, roulette, poker and slot machines. In addition to gambling, casinos also offer restaurants, entertainment, top-notch hotels and spas. While musical shows and lighted fountains help draw in visitors, the vast majority of a casino’s profits come from gaming activities.

Although many casinos offer luxuries like expensive hotel rooms and gourmet restaurants, they are still gambling establishments at heart. Each game of chance has built-in advantages that guarantee the house a certain amount of gross profit, known as the house edge. This advantage can be expressed as a percentage that represents the expected value of a bet, if it is made correctly.

In order to maximize their gross profit, casinos encourage gamblers to gamble for long periods of time by offering them free food and drinks, room service, limo and airline tickets and other perks. These inducements are referred to as comps, and they are calculated on the basis of the gambler’s spending habits.

Because of the large amounts of cash handled within a casino, patrons and staff may be tempted to cheat or steal, either in collusion or independently. To prevent these activities, most casinos employ elaborate security measures. These include security cameras that monitor each table, window and doorway. In addition, each slot machine is wired to a central server, where statistical deviations can be detected.