A casino is a facility where people can gamble through games of chance. It typically offers slot machines, poker and other table games as well as entertainment shows. Customers are required to be of legal age to enter and play, and casinos have security measures to protect their property and patrons.

The word casino is derived from the Latin cazino, which means “little house.” The world’s first casino was built in Italy and opened in 1638, though gambling probably began much earlier. In modern casinos, patrons may exchange money for chips to use on various games of chance, or they may place bets against the house in games like roulette and craps. Some casinos also offer a variety of other betting options, including sports events and horse races.

One of the largest casinos is in Macau, East Asia’s version of Las Vegas. It’s the Grand Lisboa, which is a glittering skyscraper covered in over a million LED lights. The gaming inside lives up to the surface decadence, with many tables and machines spread across several floors. There are even regular shows in the main bar, if you’re not into a flutter.

Other large casinos include the City of Dreams along the Cotai strip in Macau and Caesars Palace in Atlantic City. The former boasts 270,000 square feet (39,000 square meters) of space with dozens of table and machine games and more than 500 rooms. The latter was designed by a team of architects including Arquitectonica, Leigh & Orange and the late Zaha Hadid.