A casino (also called a gambling house or a gaming hall) is an establishment for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often combined with hotels, restaurants, resorts, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are operated by governments, while others are owned and operated by private businesses. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertainment events.
In modern times, casinos usually employ two specialized departments to ensure the safety of their customers: a physical security force and a specialized surveillance department. The former patrols the property and responds to calls for assistance or reports of suspicious activity, while the latter operates the facility’s closed circuit television system—a critical piece of security infrastructure.
Some people think that a casino is just a place to gamble, but casinos are much more than that. They are a complex mix of glitzy decor, enticing games, and psychological tricks that make them so addictive and hard to leave. Discover how casinos use psychology to trick people into spending more and more money on their slots, blackjack, and poker games—even when they know that the house always wins.
Although Las Vegas gets most of the attention, America’s biggest casino is actually in Ledyard, Connecticut, at Foxwoods Resort Casino, which was built and is operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. At 4.7 million square feet, it contains six casinos with thousands of slot machines and table games. It even has a cavernous bingo hall. Foxwoods is so big, in fact, that its security force consists of both a physical and a specialized surveillance division.