A casino is an establishment for certain types of gambling. Some casinos are stand-alone facilities, while others are part of larger resorts or hotels. Some casinos also offer live entertainment, top-notch restaurants, and other amenities. The largest casino in the world is in Macau, China, with an area of approximately.

Casinos usually feature a wide variety of gambling games, including blackjack, roulette, and slot machines. Some of these games have a skill element, such as poker and baccarat. In the case of table games, the house has a built-in advantage over players, which is mathematically determined and called the house edge.

The casino business model relies on the fact that most players will lose money. This is especially true in games with a high house edge, such as craps and roulette. To offset this, casinos offer comps to big bettors. These can include free hotel rooms, meals, tickets to shows, or limo service. In addition, some casinos offer a cashback program in which they refund a portion of a player’s losses.

Because of the large amounts of money involved in casino games, patrons and staff may be tempted to cheat or steal. To counter this, most casinos employ extensive security measures. These can include a physical security force and a specialized surveillance department. The latter often uses cameras whose angles and resolution can be adjusted to focus on suspicious people or particular patterns of behavior. These cameras can be controlled from a separate room filled with banks of security monitors, known as the eye-in-the-sky.