A casino, sometimes known as a gambling establishment or gaming hall, is a building or room that offers customers the opportunity to gamble. The word casino is derived from the Latin casino, which means “little house.” The term casino also refers to a company that runs such a venue, as well as to the games played there.

In modern casinos, technology is used to monitor game play and help prevent cheating. For example, betting chips have built-in microcircuitry that enables casinos to supervise the exact amounts wagered minute by minute; roulette wheels are electronically monitored regularly so statistical deviations can be discovered quickly. And video screens can be used to display advertising, facilitate sports betting in states where it has been legalized, and offer a variety of other services.

But the biggest technological change has been in how casinos use video cameras for security purposes. In addition to allowing managers to oversee a large number of players and machines, video surveillance can provide valuable information about trends in game play and customer behavior that can help improve operations.

Most gamblers believe that they can beat the odds and make money at the casino, but this is rarely true. The odds of any game are stacked against the patron, and casinos have many built-in advantages that ensure they will always win in the long run. These advantages are known as the house edge and vary by game. Some games, such as sic bo and keno, have the greatest house edge, while others, like blackjack, have the smallest.