A casino is a place where people can gamble. While casinos often add a variety of other attractions and luxuries to appeal to tourists, such as shopping centers, musical shows and lighted fountains, the vast majority of the revenue for the owners is generated by gambling activities. Games of chance, such as blackjack, craps, roulette and video poker, provide the billions in profits that casinos generate every year.

Gambling almost certainly predates recorded history, with primitive protodice and carved six-sided dice found in archaeological sites around the world. But casinos as a gathering place to find all types of gambling activities under one roof did not develop until the 16th century, when a gambling craze in Europe led many cities to legalize gambling.

Casinos quickly became a major source of revenue for the organized crime groups that ran them. Mobsters had plenty of money from their drug dealing, extortion and other illegal rackets, and were willing to put it into casinos even though they carried a seamy image. Mobsters even went as far as to take sole or partial ownership of some casinos, and used their mob connections to influence the outcomes of games.

Today’s casinos are technologically sophisticated, with systems that monitor the activity of each game minute by minute to discover any anomalies. Some casinos also use catwalks suspended above the gaming floor, where surveillance personnel can look down on the players through one-way glass. In addition, some casinos offer complimentary goods and services (known as comps) to big spenders, such as hotel rooms, food, show tickets and even limo service and airline tickets.