Casino (Movie Review)

A casino is an establishment that offers various types of gambling. It also provides other entertainment and amusement activities such as restaurants and bars, live music performances, and shows. Casinos are usually built in a large enclosed building with a lot of gaming tables and slot machines. Casinos have strict rules and regulations that govern the operation of its gaming areas and patrons.

Casino is in some ways Martin Scorsese dialing up Goodfellas to 11. It’s a movie that understands the mob’s relationship with Las Vegas, and how it permitted men like Sam “Ace” Rothstein (Robert De Niro) to skim millions from casinos while funneling them back to mob elders at headquarters.

But Casino is less concerned with the Mafia’s power struggles than it is with the city of Las Vegas itself. And it reveals how this place, which has become so huge and profitable that it’s impossible to stop even the most powerful organized crime syndicate, can swallow up people like Ace, Ginger and Nicky and spit them out.

Casino is a fascinating study of the business of gambling and its built-in advantages that make sure the house always wins. It’s a reminder that gambling is not a charitable organization, and that even the best players have limits to how much they can win. And that, if you’re not careful, you can lose your entire bankroll in the blink of an eye. So next time you’re at a casino, set a budget for yourself and stick to it. And remember that if you lose your money, it’s a bad idea to keep playing in order to recover it — the sunk cost fallacy is real.