A casino is a gambling establishment where patrons can gamble and play games of chance for money or other prizes. Many casinos also feature entertainment options such as music, theatre, and sports. Some casinos are combined with hotels or resorts, or they may be standalone buildings. Casinos may be operated by governments, private businesses, or individuals. Some states have legalized gambling and some have banned it entirely. In the United States, a person must be at least 21 to gamble in most casinos.
The first known casino was built in the nineteenth century in Monte Carlo, Monaco. During the second half of the twentieth century, casino gambling spread throughout Europe and Asia. In the United States, casinos began appearing on American Indian reservations in the 1980s. From the early 1990s, casinos also started appearing in Florida and on riverboats. Today, there are more than 3,000 legal casinos in operation worldwide.
Most casinos offer a variety of gambling products including slot machines, table games like blackjack and craps, and card games such as poker. In some cases, such as poker, the house earns its profit by taking a percentage of the pot, or “rake”, from each player. In other cases, such as the game of roulette, the house has a mathematical advantage over the players and this is referred to as the house edge. The house advantage can vary by game, but the average is about 5%. The term casino is derived from the Italian casa (house), diminutive of casona (cottage, hut). These examples are selected automatically from various online sources to reflect current usage of the word ‘casino.’ For more information about the meaning of casino, see the dictionary definition.