A casino is an establishment for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, concerts, and sports events. The term casino may also refer to a gaming house or a private club.

Something about gambling seems to encourage people to cheat, steal or scam their way into a jackpot. This is why casinos spend a lot of time and money on security. This starts on the casino floor, where employees keep an eye on patrons and their behavior to make sure things go as they should. Dealers are especially trained to spot blatant cheating methods, such as palming chips.

Despite the mob’s involvement in the early days of casino development, real estate investors and hotel chains soon realized that they could run a successful casino without mob interference. This, combined with federal crackdowns on mob activity, helped to clean up the industry and kept the mobsters away from their gambling cash cows.

During the 1980s and 1990s, many states legalized casino gambling. Nevada and Atlantic City were the first to open their doors, but casinos quickly spread throughout the United States, particularly as American Indian reservations were opened to casino gambling. In addition, casinos began to appear on riverboats and in other countries around the world. Today, the largest casinos are found in Las Vegas and Macao, with the potential to continue growing in the future as other major economies such as China grow at stellar rates.