casino
Americannoun
plural
casinos-
a building or large room used for meetings, entertainment, dancing, etc., especially such a place equipped with gambling devices, gambling tables, etc.
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(in Italy) a small country house or lodge.
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Cards. Also cassino a game in which cards that are face up on the table are taken with eligible cards in the hand.
noun
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a public building or room in which gaming takes place, esp roulette and card games such as baccarat and chemin de fer
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a variant spelling of cassino
Other Word Forms
- subcasino noun
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.
And, as with any casino, the house had the advantage, the biggest being margin lending.
From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026
Former Migos rapper Offset has been shot outside a casino in Florida, according to US media reports.
From BBC • Apr. 7, 2026
Wandering down the unlit corridors of a six-storey building behind the Royal Hill casino, each door opens onto a different world.
From BBC • Apr. 6, 2026
The Seminole Police Department said in a statement that officers responded to an incident in the valet area of the hotel and casino shortly after 7 p.m.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 6, 2026
Dusty Muleman had invited all the local big shots and politicians to the grand reopening of the casino boat.
From "Flush" by Carl Hiaasen
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.
