Casinos primarily serve as gambling destinations and are often linked with restaurants, hotels, and shopping malls. Some also host sports and entertainment events.

Famous casinos are renowned worldwide for their glamour, history and entertainment offerings. Some of the most famous include the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Casino de Monte-Carlo in Monaco and Casino Baden-Baden in Germany.

The games of chance played at casinos are roulette and craps, which offer a small advantage to the house; slots, which award money randomly by varying bands of colors on reels; and video poker machines, which are usually controlled by on-board computer chips. Slots are an economic mainstay of American casinos, with their high volume and rapid play generating substantial income.

Security in casinos is a multifaceted process that starts on the floor with dealers keeping an eye out for cheating and other illegal activities by patrons. Table managers and pit bosses also watch over the table games with a broader view, watching for suspicious betting patterns or suspicious behavior that might indicate a crime.

Casinos also employ elaborate surveillance systems that allow security personnel to monitor all the tables and slot machines at once. Cameras in the ceiling look down into the casino floor, and are adjustable to focus on specific suspicious patrons by security workers in a separate room filled with banks of security monitors.

Gambling addiction has become a major concern for many casinos. They are taking steps to prevent and treat the problem, including offering brochures on gambling addiction to casino employees and providing incentives for those seeking treatment to voluntarily leave the casinos.