A casino is a gambling establishment, typically a large building or room where people can gamble and enjoy entertainment. The modern casino is much like an indoor amusement park for adults, with the majority of the gaming space devoted to slot machines and other games requiring little or no skill. Casinos are designed to make people spend money and crave coming back, even if they lose in the end. This is largely accomplished through psychological tricks and designs, which have been the subject of many books and movies such as Ben Mezrich’s Busting Vegas.

A modern casino is also often a resort, with hotels, restaurants and other amenities. The Venetian Macau, for example, is the largest single-structure hotel in Asia and boasts an indoor canal with gondola rides and restaurants run by celebrity chefs. In addition to the traditional gambling tables, it has a huge range of other entertainment options such as a performance lake with choreographed fountain shows and a musical theatre.

Traditionally, the majority of casino games have been table games, such as card and dice games. Table games require social interaction, strategic thinking and luck to play. They have been a part of human culture for millennia, with evidence of board games dating to 2300 BC and dice appearing around 500 AD. Most casinos offer a variety of table games, with the main ones being baccarat (in its popular variant known as chemin de fer), blackjack, and craps. Asian casinos also feature a number of traditional Far Eastern games such as sic bo, fan-tan, and pai gow.