A casino is a gambling establishment that offers players the opportunity to gamble cash or chips on a variety of possible random outcomes. These outcomes include the results of games like blackjack, craps and roulette, as well as poker. Most casinos also offer other games of local interest, such as sic bo in Far Eastern casinos, fan-tan in China and pai gow in Asia. In addition, many casinos offer races, in which patrons place bets against each other rather than against the house. These games are usually played on boarded tables and are known as table games, or ti-tan in Chinese.
Most modern casinos rely on advanced technology to monitor both security and game play. For example, the use of microcircuitry in betting chips allows casinos to oversee exact amounts wagered minute-by-minute and to detect anomalies; electronic roulette wheels are monitored electronically to discover any statistical deviation from their expected results. In addition, specialized casino software can track player behavior to identify cheating or collusion, both in the form of poker Fish (players who make repeated mistakes) and chessboard hijackers.
The word casino is a familiar one to most people, thanks to the glitz and glamour displayed in Hollywood movies and shows such as Ocean’s Eleven and 21. However, few people are aware that the casino is a very old institution. The first recorded casino was a simple structure in Venice, Italy, called the Casin