Gambling has been a part of human culture for millennia, beginning with wooden blocks used in games of chance and progressing to dice in 500 BC and playing cards in the 1400s. Today’s casinos are much more elaborate, but the basic concept is the same: players bet against the house with an item of value like chips or money in exchange for the chance to win real money. The odds of winning are calculated and compared by the casino to those of losing, and the house takes a percentage of winnings to cover the costs of running the gambling operation.
The biggest casinos in the world are impressive to say the least. The Venetian Macao, which is known as the “Monte Carlo of Asia,” has a 550,000-square-foot gambling floor that includes replicas of the Venice canals. Other top casinos include the MGM Grand, featured in the 2001 film Ocean’s Eleven, which has 60 large plasma TVs for betting on American football, boxing and martial arts.
The world’s most famous casino is probably in Las Vegas, which has earned its reputation as Sin City. But there are many other gambling hotspots around the globe. Some are even famous in their own right, like Monte Carlo and the Foxwoods resort in Connecticut, owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation.