A casino, or gaming house, is an establishment for gambling. Some casinos specialize in certain types of games, such as poker or horse racing. Others have a wide variety of game tables and slot machines. Most casinos are also known for hosting live entertainment, such as concerts and stand-up comedy. Some casinos are integrated with hotels, restaurants, retail shops, or cruise ships. The largest casino in the world is the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is a storied gambling den that has attracted generations of hardened dollar spinners and curious newbies alike.

Most casino games have a predictable long-term advantage for the house, or “house edge”, but some allow players to eliminate this advantage through skillful play. The best-known skill-based casino game is blackjack, in which the player’s decisions influence the outcome of a hand. Players who can consistently beat the house edge are said to be advantage players.

While table games like baccarat, chemin de fer, and roulette have a fixed house advantage, casino card games such as blackjack and trente et quarante allow players to reduce the house’s profit by making careful bets or taking a commission, called a rake. In games where players compete against each other, such as poker, the casino makes its money by taking a percentage of each pot or charging an hourly fee. Casinos are concerned that some gamblers use robots, a form of artificial intelligence, to cheat and gain an unfair advantage over other players.