A casino or gaming establishment is a place where people can gamble by playing games of chance or skill. Some casinos also offer restaurants, entertainment and retail stores. Casinos are most often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, or other tourist attractions. Some are owned and operated by governments, while others are private enterprises. The precise origin of gambling is unknown, but it has existed in most societies throughout history.
Modern casinos are designed with security in mind. Most have a physical security force that patrols the facility and responds to calls for help or reports of suspicious activity. A specialized surveillance department operates the casino’s closed circuit television system, known as “the eye in the sky”. These departments work closely together to prevent crime. Casinos also have measures in place to discourage cheating or stealing by players, whether in collusion with each other or independently. These may include requiring players to wear special identification and instituting a no-tip policy for dealers.
Some casinos are designed to impress – from the Belle Epoque-inspired Casino de Monte Carlo, which presides over Monaco’s waterfront, to the shimmering opulence of Macau in east Asia. And then there are those that combine glitz with next level gaming in colossal complexes of entertainment. Take the WinStar World Casino and Resort for example, a sprawling super-casino in Oklahoma that claims to be the largest in the world. It’s a massive space packed with hundreds of tables, thousands of slots and enough high-end restaurants and bars to rival a small town.
