A casino is a place where a variety of games of chance are played and gambling is the primary activity. Many casinos add other luxuries to help attract patrons, such as restaurants, free drinks and stage shows. There have been less lavish places that housed gambling activities and were called casinos, but those casinos tended to focus more on the game itself than on the extras.

The first thing that most people notice about a casino is the noise, light and excitement. Gambling is often done in groups, and players shout out encouragement to each other or call out the numbers of their winnings. Many casinos use bright and sometimes gaudy floor and wall coverings to create an exciting and stimulating environment. There are also no clocks on the walls of most casinos because they want their customers to lose track of time and keep gambling.

Some casinos have a high-tech “eye in the sky.” Cameras positioned in the ceiling look down through one way glass on the tables and slot machines, and can be adjusted to zoom in on suspicious patrons by security workers in a separate room filled with banks of monitors. Other casinos use more subtle methods of surveillance. Dealers are trained to watch for blatant cheating like palming or marking cards. Table managers and pit bosses watch over the players’ betting patterns, looking for signs of collusion or fraud.

Casinos make most of their money from high rollers, gamblers who spend a lot of money. These people may be escorted to special rooms away from the main gambling area, where the stakes are much higher and the games more complicated. In addition, these gamblers are given comps (free items) like food, hotel rooms, show tickets and limo service.