A casino is an establishment for gambling. These facilities are often combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shops, and other tourist attractions. They can also be found on cruise ships and in some military installations. The term can also refer to a specific room in a hotel that is reserved for gambling, or a business that provides casino-like games.
In Martin Scorsese’s fascinating new film, Casino, we get to spend a night with Sam “Ace” Rothstein (Robert De Niro), the bookie for a mob faction that ran several casinos in Las Vegas. The film, based on a true story, makes us feel like eavesdroppers in a secret place.
It’s a world of greed, violence, and treachery. And yet, it’s hard not to feel sympathy for even the worst characters in this story of mob gangstery. The movie, directed by Scorsese, is filled with great acting and a wealth of details that feel right. There are small moments like Ace ordering the casino cooks to put just the right amount of blueberries into each muffin, or the airborne feds running out of gas on their way to a golf course.
Casino is full of tricks that make the game addictive, even though the house always wins in the end. We explore how casinos use psychology to trick players into spending more money and crave coming back, even if they are losing more than they realize. From bright lights to endless rows of glowing slot machines, there are many ways casinos lure in customers and keep them gambling away their hard-earned cash.