What Is a Casino?
A casino is a building or room where people can gamble. The term casino may also refer to:
Casinos can be found in cities around the world. They are sometimes combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, and other entertainment facilities. They are also found on cruise ships and on American Indian reservations. In the United States, casinos are regulated by state and federal laws.
The concept of a casino dates back to primitive gambling games such as astragali (cut knuckle bones) and carved six-sided dice, but the modern notion of an establishment designed for gambling did not emerge until the 16th century when a gambling craze swept Europe. Italian aristocrats would hold private parties in rooms called ridotti to indulge their passion for betting on horse races and other events.
Security in casinos is provided primarily by cameras and other technological devices. However, there is also a more subtle aspect to the way that casinos are designed: the routines of dealing cards and other games follow certain patterns. This makes it easier for security personnel to spot blatant cheating. It is also why casinos are rarely lit by windows and do not have chiming clocks, which might give players an idea of how long they’ve been gambling for. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online sources to reflect current usage of the word ‘casino.’ Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors.