A casino is an establishment for gambling. It can be located adjacent to or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shops and/or other entertainment facilities. It may also feature a large screen for live events, such as concerts and sporting events. It is often considered a major tourist attraction and an important source of income for the city or region in which it operates.

In modern times, casinos are usually divided into two distinct departments: a physical security force and a specialized surveillance department. The former patrols the premises, responding to calls for assistance or reports of suspicious or definite criminal activity. The latter operates the casino’s closed-circuit television system, known as “the eye in the sky”. In addition to these, many casinos employ special technologies for gaming supervision: for example, betting chips with built-in microcircuitry enable casinos to oversee the exact amount wagered minute-by-minute and alert staff of any discrepancies; and roulette wheels are electronically monitored regularly to discover any statistical deviations from their expected results.

The Monte Carlo Casino, opened in 1863, is a famous casino in Monaco. It was a meeting place for spies and dispossessed royalty during World War II, and it became the inspiration for Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel Casino Royale. In the United States, Atlantic City was the world’s premier casino destination after it legalized gambling in 1978, and during the 1980s casinos began opening on American Indian reservations that were not subject to state antigambling statutes.