Casino and Gaming Industry

The global industry built around casinos, commercial facilities offering games of chance and, in many cases, some skill, for wagered stakes. Casinos typically combine gaming floors such as craps, roulette, baccarat, blackjack, video poker and slot machines with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping and live entertainment, and every game is structured with a built in mathematical house advantage that sustains long term profitability. Macau has surpassed Las Vegas as the world largest gambling market by revenue, with major hubs also concentrated in Singapore, Monte Carlo and across Europe and the United States, and major casino operators collectively generate tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue, making the sector central to global tourism and leisure.

The global industry built on gambling, the wagering of money or another stake on a random event in hope of winning something of greater value, an activity that requires three elements: a stake, chance, and a prize. Where gambling is specifically permitted by law it is often called gaming, and licensed operators are overseen by regulators such as the Nevada Gaming Control Board in the United States and the Gambling Commission in the United Kingdom. Gambling is a major international commercial activity, with the legal gambling market estimated at 335 billion dollars in 2009.