A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. The modern casino is often like an indoor amusement park for adults, with slot machines, black jack, roulette, craps, and other games providing the billions of dollars in profit that casinos rake in each year.
Some casinos offer a variety of other entertainment such as concerts and fine dining, but the vast majority focus on gambling. Gambling has been part of human culture for millennia, with evidence from 2300 BC, when wooden blocks used in games of chance were found in China. Playing cards first appeared in Europe in the 1400s, followed by baccarat in the 1600s and blackjack in the 1800s.
In addition to the traditional table games, modern casinos feature a wide range of electronic and automated gambling devices. These include video poker machines and other electronic gaming devices, such as bingo and keno. The house always has a mathematical advantage over the players in these games, which are referred to as fixed-odds games. The advantage can be a fraction of a percent, or even less.
Because of the large amounts of money handled within a casino, both patrons and employees may be tempted to cheat or steal, either in collusion or independently. For this reason, most casinos have security measures in place. Some examples are video cameras, which monitor all activity; chip tracking, in which betting chips have microcircuitry that interacts with electronic systems to enable casinos to oversee the exact amount of money wagered minute by minute; and a system in which the results of dice rolls, roulette wheels, and card games are electronically monitored to quickly discover any deviation from expected averages.