A casino or gambling house is an establishment that offers customers the opportunity to gamble by playing games of chance or skill. Customers play for cash or other items of value, and the house collects a percentage of winnings as a fee for its services. A casino is a type of entertainment venue and some casinos also offer food and beverage service.
In modern times the security of a casino is usually divided into two departments, a physical security force that patrols the premises and a specialized surveillance department that operates the casino’s closed circuit television system (known as “the eye in the sky”). Specialized casino surveillance staff are trained to identify suspicious or definite criminal activity and are assisted by specially designed cameras that allow them to observe patrons’ activities from elevated catwalks above the gaming floor.
Some casinos specialize in particular games or attract certain types of gamblers. For example, the elegant spa town of Baden-Baden in Germany’s Black Forest began drawing royalty and aristocracy 150 years ago and still boasts an opulent red-and-gold casino that made actress Marlene Dietrich declare it the most beautiful in the world. Other opulent European casinos include the Casino di Campione in Italy and the Wynn Macau in the Special Administrative Region of China.
Casinos can be found in many countries and are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. In the United States, state laws regulate the number of casinos and they are usually prohibited from offering table games to anyone under 21 years old. Several American Indian reservations, however, have casinos.