A casino (plural casinos) is a facility for gambling. It features a variety of gambling games such as blackjack, poker and roulette. It is also home to a variety of entertainment shows and top-notch hotels. However, the majority of its profits come from gambling itself. Casinos are heavily regulated, and security is paramount. Casinos use technology to ensure the integrity of their games and protect patrons from cheating or theft. For example, in some casinos, betting chips with built-in microcircuitry allow them to be monitored minute by minute, and electronic systems monitor roulette wheels regularly to discover any deviation from their expected results.
Most casinos are located in tourist destinations. For example, the elegant spa town of Baden-Baden in Germany was a popular destination for European royalty and aristocracy 150 years ago, and it still attracts visitors today. Other famous casinos are found in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Macau, China. Casinos also open in other parts of the world when their operators realize that travelers from those areas are interested in gambling.
The casino industry is characterized by high profit margins, and casinos usually accept all bets made by their patrons within an established limit. This gives the casino a mathematical expectancy of winning, so it is extremely rare for a casino to lose money on any given day. To maximize profit, casinos offer big bettors extravagant inducements, such as free spectacular entertainment and luxurious living quarters. Lesser bettors are often rewarded with comps, such as free or reduced-fare transportation and hotel rooms.