After the success of Goodfellas, Scorsese’s Casino was an obvious choice for Universal. It featured the same team (De Niro and Joe Pesci completing their collaboration) from his previous movie, plus a real-life mafia tale by Nicholas Pileggi. At a time when violent, profane crime was all the rage, Casino’s depiction of mob rule in Las Vegas looked like a surefire hit.
The movie takes viewers to the world of casino gambling, where people wager money with a hope that they will win something big. The atmosphere is designed around dazzling lights, noise and excitement. The casino hopes that the experience will make people want to spend more money and gamble more often. It also tries to create a false sense of euphoria in which people will feel good about themselves even though they might lose a lot of money.
Casinos earn profit by taking a percentage of the money that players bet. The house edge of different games depends on the rules, the number of cards dealt and the type of decks used. Players can reduce the house edge by knowing basic strategy.
Casinos try to attract large bettors by offering them free hotel rooms, tickets to shows and other inducements. They may offer limo service, meals and airline tickets to high rollers. They may also offer reduced-fare transportation and hotel rooms to less frequent customers. These incentives are referred to as comps. They are meant to keep the casino’s patrons from leaving for a competing facility.