A casino is an establishment for certain types of gambling. Some casinos are standalone, while others are combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shops or cruise ships. Some casinos are regulated by gaming control boards. Some are owned by Native American tribes. Large amounts of money are handled within a casino, and both patrons and employees may be tempted to cheat or steal, either in collusion or independently. Because of this, casinos have extensive security measures.

Aside from being a major tourist destination, a casino is also a social gathering place. Live entertainment is often featured, and well-known artists have held residencies in some of the most famous ones. The Caesars Palace in Las Vegas has been home to entertainers such as Frank Sinatra and Celine Dion, while the Monte Carlo Casino has featured in various films, including Ben Mezrich’s “Busting Vegas”, which depicts a team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology students who beat the house at blackjack and roulette.

In addition to standard slot machines and table games, most casinos feature Far Eastern games such as sic bo (which spread from Hong Kong to several European casinos in the 1990s), fan-tan, baccarat and pai gow. Some casinos have dedicated areas for regional games such as two-up, banca francesa in Portugal, boule in France and kalooki in Britain.

Some casinos are known for their architecture or design, such as the soaring pyramid-like structure of the Hotel Lisboa in Macau, which is clad with more than a million LED lights. Others, like the Venetian in Macau, are the largest single-structure hotel/casinos on the planet.