Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions.

Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, concerts, and sportsCasino is of Italian origin; the root casa means a house.

The term casino may mean a small country villa, summerhouse, or social club.

During the 19th century, the term casino came to include other public buildings where pleasurable activities took place; such edifices were usually built on the grounds of a larger Italian villa or palazzo, and were used to host civic town functions, including dancing, gambling, music listening, and sports.

Examples in Italy include Villa Farnese and Villa Giulia, and in the US the Newport Casino in Newport, Rhode Island.

In domino qq -day Italian a casino is a brothel (also called casa chiusa, literally "closed house"), a mess, or a noisy environment; a gaming house is spelt casinò, with an accent.Not all casinos are used for gaming.