During the 19^th century, the term casino came to include other public buildings where pleasurable activities, including gambling, took place. An example of this type of building is the Newport Casino in Newport, Rhode Island.

Not all casinos were used for gambling. The Copenhagen Casino was a theatre, known for the use made of its hall for mass public meetings during the 1848 Revolution which made Denmark a constitutional monarchy. Until 1937 it was a well-known Danish theatre. The Hanko Casino at Hanko, Finland - one of that town’s most conspicuous landmarks - was never used for gambling. Rather, it was a banquet hall for the Russian Nobility which frequented this spa resort in the late 1800s, and is presently a restaurant. The Casino at the Blackpool Pleasure Beach amusement park in England, is a general entertainment complex that retains its original name from before the term came to be associated specifically with gambling.