Whether you are into the strategy of blackjack, the speed of craps, or the elegance of baccarat there is something about walking into a casino that captivates us all. This luxuriating environment offers free drinks, enticing casino comps, and the chance to feel the weight of chips in your hands. But that opulence is not by accident. Casinos are designed to play on human psychology and keep players in the building as long as possible.
One way is through the use of scents, which have been shown to increase slot machine play by 46%. Other techniques include a flashy light show and the sound of pennies dropping (even though coins stopped being used in slots years ago). It’s all about keeping people awake, engaged, and feeling like they are making money. Casinos have even been known to hire mathematicians and computer programmers to help them figure out optimal strategies for their games.
The movie Casino is Martin Scorsese dialing up Goodfellas to 11. It’s the story of mobster Sam “Ace” Rothstein (Robert De Niro) funneling money from his Tangiers hotel to his mob elders back east, while he and his girlfriend Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone) chug champagne and gamble.
But this is a much more complex story than just mobsters and casinos. Scorsese is equally concerned with the city of Las Vegas itself, and how it allowed guys like Ace to flourish, then spit them out, because the casino machine was too profitable and powerful.
