If you’ve ever walked into a casino, you’ve seen the flashing lights and heard the clinking of slot machines. But you’ve also seen players laughing and talking, and the pulsating energy that fills the air. It’s an intoxicating experience, and it’s a part of the reason that people continue to flock to casinos to gamble.
It’s happened to all of us: We stride into the Luxor or Mohegan Sun or Tropicana with our wallets filled with cash, and we plan for a night of enjoyable gaming and maybe a couple rounds of drinks. But then we lose track of time and find ourselves hours later wondering where all our money went. The answer is simple: Casinos are designed to trick you into spending more money. They use everything from physical design to color schemes and even scents to encourage you to keep betting.
The great thing about a casino is that you’re playing with “chips,” which are not actual cash but represent it. This allows you to psychologically disassociate the amount of money you’re losing from your bank account, making it easier to keep playing. You can also use digital coins to play games, which makes it even more difficult to walk away when you’re up against the house.
Casino is Martin Scorsese’s most violent movie, with scenes of a man tortured with a vice, the attempted murder of Robert De Niro with a car bomb, and Joe Pesci being buried alive in a cornfield. But Scorsese didn’t do this to shock his audience — these events really did happen to real-life casino owners and mob families in the 1980s, and Casino is an honest portrayal of the real world.