A casino (also called a gambling house or a gaming establishment) is a facility for certain types of gambling. Modern casinos are often combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shops, and other entertainment facilities. In some countries, casinos are licensed and regulated by the government. Others are unlicensed and operate illegally.
Casinos make money by accepting bets on games of chance. Each game has a built in mathematical advantage for the house, which is known as its expected value or house edge. In most cases the advantage is very small, but over time and millions of bets it adds up. In addition, a percentage of each bet is taken by the casino, which is called the vig or rake. This gives the casino a profit, even when players win.
In addition to a wide variety of casino-style games, some casinos also offer sports betting and other forms of gambling outside of the casino floor. For example, the MGM Grand in Las Vegas has a large sports book and 60 large plasma televisions for placing bets on American football, boxing, martial arts and soccer.
While some legitimate businessmen were initially reluctant to invest in casinos due to their seamy image, organized crime figures saw an opportunity and began funding new gambling ventures. During the 1950s, the mob controlled many of the best casinos in Nevada and other states. The mobsters took full or partial ownership of some casinos and used them as fronts for their illegal rackets, such as extortion, loan sharking, and mobster control of local governments and law enforcement.