Casino is Martin Scorsese’s most violent movie, but it’s also one of the most realistic. It depicts the true horror of gambling addiction, and it demonstrates how greed, treachery, and violence ripped apart Las Vegas. The performances by De Niro and Sharon Stone are impeccable, and Joe Pesci is just the right mix of menace and charm as the casino owner Santoro. The movie’s depiction of the mafia’s reign of terror over Vegas is utterly convincing, and it’s hard to watch the scene where they torture a man with a vice without feeling sick to your stomach.
The film is a must-watch for anyone who wants to understand how the mafia controlled Vegas and how the city was eventually taken over by huge gambling corporations. It’s a tragic story of human tragedy, and it serves as a warning that greed and corruption can lead to disaster in any industry.
In a casino, the lights flash, sounds blare, and drinks are served nonstop. The booze lowers inhibitions and clouds judgment, and it’s easy to spend more money than you intended. It’s also hard to step away from a slot machine or card table when you’re losing. You might think you can “make it up” by betting more, but this is the sunk cost fallacy at work.
Casinos are designed to make it impossible to stop gambling, and they use a variety of tricks to keep you from walking away. You might not notice them, but casinos are deliberately labyrinthine, with no clear paths from one room to the next. Bathrooms are hidden, and food is available only by trekking deeper into the building past many more opportunities to press your luck.