A casino is a building that offers gambling games. It can be as large as a megaresort or as small as a card room. Successful casinos bring in billions of dollars each year for the companies, investors, and Native American tribes that run them. Local and state governments also reap benefits from casino taxes, fees, and other payments.
Gambling has been popular throughout history, from ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt to Napoleon’s France and Elizabethan England. Modern casinos feature a variety of gambling games, including slots, blackjack, poker, craps, roulette, and video poker. Most of these games have mathematically determined odds that ensure the house will win over the players, unless there is a significant skill element involved. This advantage is known as the house edge. In games such as poker where players compete against each other, the house takes a commission on winning hands, which is called the rake. Casinos often give out complimentary goods or services to players, which are known as comps.
In 2005, the typical casino gambler was a forty-six-year-old female from an upper-middle-class household with a high income and an above-average level of education. These examples are automatically selected from various online sources, and may not reflect the opinions of Merriam-Webster or its editors.