A casino is a building where people can gamble on games of chance. Your grandmother might take weekend bus trips to the nearest casino with her friends and spend hours gambling at the poker tables, blackjack or roulette. A casino is also a place where people can play a variety of other games that don’t involve chance. In general, casinos have bright and sometimes gaudy floor and wall coverings that are designed to stimulate and cheer the patrons. They often have music playing to accentuate the noise level. People who gamble in a casino often receive free drinks and snacks, and are given comps for their time at the table or slot machines.
The concept of a casino was developed in Nevada, where the first legal gambling establishments opened. The owners realized they could draw a huge amount of money from tourists who came to gamble. Mobster funds poured into the new ventures. The mafia was not satisfied to simply provide the funds, however; it wanted a piece of the action and took over casinos entirely or took sole or partial ownership.
Since that time, casinos have proliferated around the world. Most American states have changed their laws to permit casino gambling, and casinos have opened on Indian reservations and in foreign countries. Something about casinos (probably their association with large sums of money) seems to encourage cheating and stealing. That’s why casinos put so much emphasis on security. Elaborate surveillance systems use cameras to watch every table, window and doorway, which can be adjusted to focus on suspicious patrons by security workers in a room filled with banks of security monitors.