A casino (plural: casinos) is a facility that houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are typically built in the style of an old-world hotel or grand opera house, with high ceilings and chandeliers. Casinos feature table games such as blackjack, roulette, baccarat, poker and craps. They also feature slot machines and video poker machines. Casinos often have dedicated areas for sports betting, with 60 large plasma televisions where patrons can flick a few coins on American football, boxing and soccer.
A modern casino features a variety of security measures. These include cameras, which are used both for general surveillance and for supervising individual games. In addition, casino tables may feature electronic systems for monitoring the amount of money placed on a particular bet minute-by-minute, so that the casino can quickly discover any statistical deviation from the expected return on a wager.
In the United States, casinos are generally licensed by state governments. Some are owned by Native American tribes, and many have been designated National Historic Landmarks. In the latter half of the 20th century, nearly all states amended their antigambling statutes to permit casino gambling. Some of the earliest American casinos were on riverboats.
The exact origin of casino gambling is unknown, but it is likely that human beings have always sought to entertain themselves by placing bets on events with an element of chance. In ancient Mesopotamia, the Romans, Elizabethan England and Napoleon’s France, gambling was a popular pastime. The first casino opened in Monte Carlo in 1863 and is still the world’s best known, though it only accepts bets on horse racing and a limited number of other events.