A casino is an establishment for certain types of gambling. It can be a standalone building, or it can be combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shops, and cruise ships. Casinos generate billions of dollars annually for the owners, corporations, investors, and Native American tribes that operate them. They also rake in profits from slot machines, table games like blackjack and poker, and the dice game of craps. Casinos often feature lighted fountains, shopping centers, lavish hotels and elaborate themes.
While the concept of casinos dates back to primitive protodice, the modern concept evolved in the 16th century as a craze for gambling spread throughout Europe. In Italy, wealthy nobles would gather for social occasions in rooms called ridotti, where they could gamble in private and avoid the attention of local authorities. The word casino was probably derived from the Italian noun cazino (house of chance) or from the Spanish noun kasino (gambling house).
Modern casinos are run much like miniature theme parks, with bright lights and elaborate decorations meant to attract and entertain gamblers. They offer a variety of table and machine games, including roulette, blackjack, poker, craps, and keno. They also offer a variety of special inducements to big bettors, from free shows and hotel rooms to reduced-fare transportation and elegant living quarters. These rewards are known as comps.
In addition to dazzling visuals, casinos use technology to control the games themselves. For instance, poker tables have chips with built-in microcircuitry that interact with electronic systems to allow the casino to monitor bets minute by minute and quickly detect any statistical deviations.