A casino is a building or room where gambling games are played. Typically, casinos feature slot machines and table games. They may also contain restaurants, free drinks and stage shows. The term casino most often refers to a large, upscale establishment in Las Vegas or Macau, although there are smaller casinos in cities around the world and on American Indian reservations.
Historically, the word casino has meant a public hall for music and dancing, but by the second half of the nineteenth century it had come to mean a collection of gaming or gambling rooms. The earliest known casino was in China in 2300 BC, but the game of chance has been part of human culture for millennia, with evidence of dice and card games appearing in Rome in 500 AD.
In addition to enforcing the rules of each game, casinos use many methods of surveillance to prevent cheating and other crimes. For example, the employees of a casino are trained to spot suspicious betting patterns and to look for unauthorized handling of cards or dice. Cameras in the ceiling provide a high-tech eye-in-the-sky view of the entire casino, and can be adjusted by security workers to focus on suspicious patrons.
People who play a lot of games at a casino are called “high rollers.” These gamblers earn comps (free goods or services) that can be worth thousands of dollars. In exchange for their hefty wagers, they usually receive free hotel rooms, meals and tickets to shows. Occasionally, they even get limo service and airline tickets.