The word casino carries many connotations of glamour and excitement. It’s the place where your grandmother might take weekend bus trips to play her favorite card games with friends. It’s where your favorite movies are made and the site of the world’s most popular and profitable gambling events.

Almost every country has legalized casinos, though the term is most commonly associated with Las Vegas, which is home to many of the world’s largest and most extravagant gaming houses. Casinos are also often combined with hotels, restaurants, spas, and other entertainment venues.

A casino is a business, and as such, it must generate profit in order to stay in business. It does so by charging patrons a small percentage of the total bet amount, which is called the house edge. The edge may be small, but it adds up over the millions of bets placed each year by patrons. These profits are what allow casinos to build elaborate hotels, fountains, and towers that feature replicas of famous landmarks.

Casinos employ a wide range of security measures to prevent cheating and other crimes. Employees patrol the floor, watching patrons closely and spotting patterns of behavior that might signal cheating. High-tech surveillance systems provide an “eye-in-the-sky” of the entire casino, allowing security personnel to watch every table, window, and doorway. Computers and chips monitor betting patterns minute-by-minute, and roulette wheels are electronically monitored to discover any statistical deviation from their expected results.