A casino is a gambling establishment that offers patrons the opportunity to gamble by exchanging money for chips and playing various games of chance and skill. Some casinos also offer food and entertainment shows. In order to gamble in a casino, patrons must be of legal age and follow all the rules and regulations set by the casino.

A number of states have amended their laws in the latter half of the 20th century to permit casinos, and many American Indian reservations have casinos as well. Currently, there are about 3,500 legal casinos worldwide. Casinos are usually built in large cities with easy access to transportation and shopping. Some are also located on riverboats and other vessels, or in tourist areas.

Some casino games have a degree of skill, but most of them are pure luck. The mathematical advantage of the house in these games is uniformly negative, unless players employ advanced strategies such as card counting. Casinos make their profits from the difference between the expected value of a hand and the actual payout, which is usually expressed as the house edge. In some games, such as poker, the casino earns a commission from each bet, known as the rake.

Some of the most popular casino games include poker and its variants, blackjack, baccarat, and roulette. In addition, some Asian casinos feature traditional Far Eastern games such as sic bo, fan-tan, and pai gow. Most casinos also have a selection of video poker machines, slot machines, and keno. They also use a special type of computer system for their daily operations called a casino management system.