A casino, also known as a gaming hall or a gambling establishment, is a place where people can gamble and play games of chance. The concept is familiar to most people—even their grandmothers may have taken weekend bus trips to the local casino with friends. Modern casinos offer much more than the simple thrill of throwing a dice or pulling a lever on a slot machine: they have swanky restaurants, opulent rooms, and live entertainment.
Gambling has been a part of civilization for millennia, with archaeological evidence suggesting that wooden blocks were used in China in 2300 BC, dice made their appearance in Rome around 500 AD, and playing cards arrived in the 1400s. The first modern-day casinos were built around the turn of the 20th century.
The modern casino is an enormous complex of gambling rooms, table games, restaurants, and retail shops. In addition to the usual casino floor offerings such as slots and table games, many casinos include sports books, racetracks, and cardrooms. Many casinos use advanced technology to monitor and control game play. For example, in a practice called chip tracking, betting chips have microcircuitry that allows them to communicate with electronic systems at the tables to monitor game play minute by minute and warn of any anomalies. Roulette wheels are electronically monitored for regular statistical deviations.
In addition to their high-tech surveillance, casinos employ a staff of security personnel whose jobs include patrolling the casino grounds and responding to reports of suspicious or definite criminal activity. Depending on the size of the facility, security departments are often divided into two components: physical security and a specialized surveillance department that operates a casino’s closed-circuit television system.