A casino is a gambling hall equipped with gaming tables and devices where people wager money. It may also refer to an establishment licensed by a government to offer such games. In the United States, the term casino usually refers to a large hotel and entertainment complex that offers various types of gambling. In some jurisdictions, casinos can be legally operated only in land-based facilities, while others permit online and/or mobile play. In some cases, casinos are owned and operated by local governments, while in others they are run by independent companies.

In the United States, casinos are often located in cities with substantial tourist populations, such as Las Vegas and Atlantic City. They are also found on American Indian reservations, where they are not subject to state anti-gambling laws.

Modern casinos are heavily reliant on technology for security and supervision purposes. For example, in table games like poker and roulette, betting chips are micro-circuited to enable the casinos to monitor how much is being wagered minute by minute; and roulette wheels are electronically monitored regularly to discover any statistical deviation from expected value.

In addition, video cameras and computer programs routinely supervise games themselves. In fact, in some casinos, the players do not even interact with each other, but instead place bets by pushing buttons on machines that display their choices. This has dramatically increased the speed of games and the amount of information available to the casino’s supervisory personnel.