A casino, also known as a gambling house or a gaming room, is an establishment for certain types of gambling. Most casinos offer a wide range of casino games and some even feature restaurants, hotels, shops and other attractions. The casinos make money by charging players for the use of their facilities, and they also earn a percentage of the total bets placed in the casino. The casinos also make money by paying out winnings. In the United States, these establishments are usually regulated by state law and are sometimes called “bingo halls”.

Many casinos employ elaborate security systems. They may have cameras in the ceiling that can be directed to a particular table or slot machine by security workers in a separate room filled with banks of computer monitors. Some have catwalks over the casino floor, from which surveillance personnel can look directly down on the patrons through one-way glass. In some casinos, the video is monitored live and adjustments can be made immediately to focus on suspicious behavior.

The casino business has been historically associated with organized crime. Mobsters provided much of the initial capital for the first Las Vegas and Reno casinos, and they often took sole or partial ownership of these businesses, using them to finance other criminal enterprises. Mob involvement gave casinos a reputation for corruption and shady deals, which has persisted to this day. Legitimate investors and hotel chains soon realized the potential of the casino industry, and they acquired many of the mobsters’ assets.