A casino is a facility where people can gamble on games of chance. They may also provide food, drink and entertainment. The term can apply to both land-based casinos and online casinos. A large number of gambling games are available at these establishments, including slots, keno, baccarat, blackjack, roulette, craps and poker. Some casinos even offer non-gambling amenities, such as hotels, restaurants, spas and other recreational activities.
While some casinos have a reputation for being glamorous, most are not places where you can expect to win much money. Most of the casino games have a built-in house advantage, which makes the casino the winner over time. This house edge varies by game and is usually expressed as a percentage.
Because of the large amounts of money handled within casinos, both staff and patrons can be tempted to cheat or steal. To combat this, casinos employ a wide range of security measures. These include observing players for tells and betting patterns, checking player IDs and using video surveillance to monitor play.
Some casinos are designed to look like a particular city or country, with replicas of landmarks and even a water show. Other casinos are modeled after a theme park. Some are huge, with thousands of games, hotels, restaurants and other facilities. Others are small, with just a few hundred slot machines and table games. Still others are geared towards problem gamblers, with special rooms and programs to help them recover from their addictions.