A casino, or gaming house, is a gambling establishment that offers a variety of card and dice games to people who wager money. Casinos may also offer free shows, meals, and drinks to attract patrons. In the United States, casinos were once found only in Nevada, but in the 1970s they began to appear on American Indian reservations and in cities such as Atlantic City and New Jersey.
In modern times, casinos have become a tourist attraction and generate huge revenue for their owners. Casinos are often decorated with luxury elements such as expensive carpets, richly glazed tiles, and dimmed lighting to create a swanky atmosphere. The Bellagio on the Las Vegas strip is a prime example. Its dancing fountains, high-end dining options, and its role in the movie Ocean’s Eleven have helped make it one of the most popular casinos in the world.
Casinos earn money by generating bets that exceed their operating costs. Each game has a built-in advantage for the casino, which can be very small, but the millions of bets placed each year earn the casino enough money to finance elaborate hotels, statues, and fountains. The economic mainstays of casinos are slot machines and video poker, which draw in large numbers of players at low cost and require very little skill.
During the early years of legalized gambling, casinos were financed by organized crime mobs that needed the cash to fund their illegal rackets. In the 1950s, however, legitimate businesses such as real estate investors and hotel chains bought out the mob’s stakes in casinos and took control of their operations. Because of federal crackdowns and the possibility of losing a gambling license at any hint of mob involvement, casinos are careful to avoid even the slightest association with organized crime.