The bright lights and dazzling machines in casinos create a fake utopia. But it’s a bubble that can burst at any time. Casinos trick people into throwing hundreds or even thousands of dollars away based on the roll of the dice, spin of the wheel, or the draw of the cards. In the end, the house always wins.
Casino is a movie about corruption, but unlike other epic mob dramas like Goodfellas and American Gangster, it doesn’t glorify the criminal lifestyle. Instead, it lays bare how fucked up that lifestyle is. And Robert De Niro’s performance as Ace, a low-level mobster who knows how to play the system, is captivating throughout.
There are countless ways casinos try to keep people gambling longer, and some of them are less obvious than others. Casinos use a lot of free alcohol to lower inhibitions and make people more likely to lose money. They design the lighting to be bright enough to see but also match the daytime sky outside, which confuses your sense of time and place. They have a tendency to be labyrinthine, making it hard for you to find your way back to the exit. And they employ the sunk cost fallacy: If you lose one bet, you can always “make up for it” by betting more on the next round.
There are also countless strategies and tactics for how a casino can increase its profits, including raising the hold percentage on slot machines, requiring higher minimum bets for table games, or increasing prices for everything from parking to hotel amenities. And, of course, there are the regular poker tournaments that draw players from around the world.