A casino, also known as a gaming house or a gambling establishment, is an establishment where people can gamble and play games of chance. Modern casinos have a wide variety of games, including craps, roulette, blackjack, and poker. In addition, most have restaurants and retail shopping. Some even host live entertainment, such as comedians or musical artists.
Almost every country in the world has legalized some form of casino gambling, and there are more than 3,000 licensed casinos worldwide. Many of these casinos are integrated into hotels and resorts, while others stand alone. Some are located on American Indian reservations and are not subject to state gambling laws.
The precise origin of gambling is unknown, but it is believed to have existed in some form throughout history. Ancient Mesopotamia, China, and Greece all had forms of lottery-like activities. In the modern era, however, gambling became highly developed in Europe and North America. In the United States, it began to spread from Atlantic City to other parts of New Jersey and beyond, and in the 1980s it moved into other cities and on to Native American reservations.
Casinos have a very high profit margin, meaning that for every dollar wagered on a game, the casino takes in at least one more dollar in revenue. Because of this, they often offer their biggest bettors extravagant inducements such as free show tickets, limousine rides, hotel rooms and fine dining, and discounted or comped drinks and food while gambling. The casino industry has become very sophisticated and uses technology to prevent cheating and other problems. For example, some casino chips have built-in microcircuitry that interacts with electronic systems to allow the casinos to monitor the amounts wagered minute by minute; roulette wheels are electronically monitored to discover any statistical deviation from their expected values; and card counting is a common technique used to identify patterns in player behavior that can alert surveillance staff to suspicious activity.
In the past, the operations of some casinos were overseen by organized crime figures. In Nevada, mobsters provided the initial capital to open and operate casinos in Reno and Las Vegas. In return, they took full or partial ownership of the casinos, influenced the outcomes of certain games, and intimidated or threatened casino personnel. In other cases, mobster money tainted the reputation of some casinos and prompted the state to take steps to separate them from legitimate businesses.
Today, the largest casinos are massive complexes that offer more than just gambling. Many of them include hotels, theaters, restaurants with Michelin stars, shopping malls, and more. The Venetian in Macau, for example, is the largest single structure hotel in the world and the second-largest casino by floor space. This article will break down the top 10 biggest casinos in the world based on their casino and property size in square footage.