A casino is a facility that houses gambling activities. Casinos often provide extra luxuries to attract players such as restaurants, free drinks and stage shows. In modern times, casinos are highly automated with a wide variety of gaming machines and electronic card games. In some cases, they also offer hotel accommodations, spas and even golf courses.

While many people are tempted to cheat or steal at casinos, both in collusion with other patrons or independently, the casino industry spends a lot of time and money on security measures. Usually, these include cameras and personnel monitoring games, but they also can extend to high-tech systems like “chip tracking” where betting chips with built-in microcircuitry allow the casino to monitor the exact amount of money wagered on a table minute by minute and warn staff when any deviation from expected results occurs.

In addition to the surveillance cameras, most modern casinos employ a specialized security department that patrols the floor and reacts to reports of possible or definite criminal activity. These departments work closely with a broader corporate security department to ensure the safety of both patrons and employees.

In the past, mobster money flowed steadily into Reno and Las Vegas, but federal crackdowns and a general suspicion of organized crime forced legitimate businessmen to take over casinos. Large casino owners such as Donald Trump and the Hilton hotel company have deep pockets, and they bought out the mobsters, taking sole or partial ownership of many casinos.