A casino is a place where people play games of chance for money. While many casinos offer a lot of other amenities like restaurants, free drinks, theaters and even shopping centers to attract visitors, the bulk of their profits come from gambling. Slot machines, blackjack, roulette and other table games provide the billions of dollars in profits raked in by casinos every year.
While the concept of a casino is not new, the modern one is quite different from what it once was. Casinos now look more like indoor amusement parks for adults, with a wide variety of games and a lot of glitz and glamour. Casinos can be found all over the world, from massive resorts in Las Vegas to small card rooms in rural Nebraska. In addition, a growing number of states and Native American tribes now operate their own casinos.
Something about gambling (perhaps the large amount of money that is handled within a casino) seems to encourage both patrons and staff to cheat or steal, either in collusion or at random. Because of this, most casinos invest a lot of time and money into security measures. Besides the obvious cameras, they employ a number of other methods to keep their patrons and their money safe.
In the past, casino owners often had mob connections. However, real estate investors and hotel chains eventually had more money than the gangsters did, so they bought out the mob members and now run their casinos without interference from organized crime.