casino
Americannoun
-
casinos
plural
-
a building or large room used for meetings, entertainment, dancing, etc., especially such a place equipped with gambling devices, gambling tables, etc.
-
(in Italy) a small country house or lodge.
-
Cards. Also cassino a game in which cards that are face up on the table are taken with eligible cards in the hand.
noun
-
a public building or room in which gaming takes place, esp roulette and card games such as baccarat and chemin de fer
-
a variant spelling of cassino
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of casino
1780–90; < Italian, equivalent to cas(a) “house” + -ino diminutive suffix
Explanation
A casino is a building where people can gamble and play games of chance. Your grandmother might enjoy taking weekend bus trips to the nearest casino with her friends. Many casinos are near — or inside — hotels, and include opportunities to dine, drink, and shop. The main event at a casino, however, is the chance to gamble either by betting money on games like blackjack or poker, or by putting coins in a slot machine. Casino is also the name of a card game. The word comes from the Italian casa, or "house." In the 1800s casino came to mean "building for aristocratic gambling."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In fact, the entire stock market could be best described as a casino that incentivizes absurd growth like the historic tech bubble provoked by the spread of artificial intelligence.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
On Wednesday, Trump is travelling to Las Vegas to deliver a speech at a casino.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
The hotel and casino company confirmed during an earnings call last week that it is currently assessing the offer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
Sheriff’s deputies had to force a few diehard gamblers away from their games at a casino in Commerce.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
But according to Dad, Dusty still showed up every night at the casino boat, to count the money personally.
From "Flush" by Carl Hiaasen
A failed plan to bring in casinos left the area desolate after other businesses closed to make way for development that never emerged.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Evolution, which provides online games and the technology behind online casinos, declined to comment on the news.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
There could be a ban on unlicensed casinos from sponsoring sports teams, too, with Burnham a long-time critic of the negative effects of gambling.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Kirkland said the regulations would have especially affected cities like Bell Gardens and Hawaiian Gardens, where casinos represent nearly 70% of the general fund.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
Wall Street investment banks are like Las Vegas casinos: They set the odds.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
