A casino is a place where people can play games of chance for money. The most famous casino is in Las Vegas, but there are also casinos in other cities and countries. Some casinos are more lavish than others, but they all share certain things: a high-energy atmosphere with music and coin clinking, glitzy decorations, and an overall sense of excitement. In addition to gambling facilities, many casinos offer other entertainment options, such as restaurants and live performances.

Despite their glamorous images, casinos have a dark side. They can draw people who are addicted to gambling, which reduces the amount of money they spend in other local businesses. In addition, they harm property values in surrounding areas. Casinos have also been linked to crime and organized crime. In the 1950s, mobster money helped finance some of the early casinos in Reno and Las Vegas. Later, mafia members became personally involved in the casinos and even took sole or partial ownership of them.

A casino has to have security measures in place because of the large amounts of cash that it handles. These measures start on the gaming floor, where employees keep an eye on patrons for signs of cheating or theft. Dealers are heavily trained to spot blatant cheating, such as palming or marking cards. Table managers and pit bosses watch the action from a different angle, looking for betting patterns that might indicate cheating. Each person on the floor is also watched by someone in a room filled with banks of security monitors.