Casino is a movie that is brimming with greed, violence, treachery, and corruption. The film, directed by Martin Scorsese, is an epic history lesson about the city of Las Vegas and how huge gambling corporations have taken over its once-mobbed streets. The film is based on the non-fiction book Casino by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese.
While the film does portray a lot of violence, it doesn’t play up the sensational and over the top scenes in order to shock audiences. Instead, Scorsese carefully and faithfully lays bare the web of crime and corruption that was at the heart of the mob’s grip on Las Vegas.
The gambling world is full of strange and twisted characters. From the strutting high rollers who are convinced they’re going to win big to the small time hustlers who are trying to make their way up the ranks, the people at a casino share one common trait: they’re all looking for a quick buck.
In fact, most casinos are built with this goal in mind. It’s why they’re usually designed with a labyrinthine layout, making it difficult to find your way from one end of the casino to the other. This is done in order to keep you from leaving the premises to meet your basic needs, such as getting food and water. Instead, you’ll be forced to walk past a dozen more opportunities to gamble.
Another way that casinos manipulate people is by giving out free alcohol. This is because they know that heavy drinking can lower a person’s inhibitions and cloud their judgment, which makes them more likely to continue gambling even when the odds are against them. This behavior is known as reinforcement and is a core component of the marketing strategy of many casinos.
Casino is also able to lure customers in by offering complimentary meals and rooms at their adjoining hotels. These incentives, along with the opulent decor and sounds of coins clinking slots, create an atmosphere that is intoxicating for most people. This is why it’s important for a person to separate their gambling money into envelopes for each day and only use the funds they can afford to lose.
In the end, the most dangerous thing about a casino is how it makes normal people who work hard and make reasoned financial decisions on a daily basis throw hundreds or thousands of dollars away based on the roll of the dice, spin of the wheel, or draw of the cards. The sunk cost fallacy is at work in these cases, as people try to recover their losses by continuing to gamble. This is how the house always wins.