A casino is a place where people can gamble and play games of chance. It adds luxuries like restaurants, stage shows and free drinks to attract patrons. But a casino’s basic mission is to make sure the house wins. Each game it offers has a built in statistical advantage that earns the casino money over time. That may only be a couple of percent, but millions of bets add up.

Casinos also earn billions from the dozens of table games they offer. Blackjack, roulette and craps are popular choices, but there are many others: baccarat, trente et quarante (the French version of chemin de fer), poker and other card games.

There are hundreds of casinos in the United States, with Atlantic City and Las Vegas being the largest. Casinos can also be found in Indian reservations and are a growing business in Latin America.

Modern casinos have become more elaborate than the original idea, but the main attraction remains gambling. Musical shows, lighted fountains, and shopping centers help draw visitors, but the majority of revenue comes from the actual gambling.

While some casino patrons are tempted to cheat and steal, the vast majority of people play within the rules. Casinos use a variety of measures to prevent this, including security cameras in every room that monitor the casino floor and watch each game, and sophisticated computer systems that supervise betting chips with built-in microcircuitry, oversee roulette wheels and dice, and alert staff if anything changes from the expected pattern.