A casino is a gambling establishment that’s engineered to slowly bleed its patrons of cash. Behind the flashing lights, free drinks and buffets, casinos are built on a foundation of mathematics that assures the house always wins.
Physicists and game theorists have long been trying to turn that mathematical advantage against casinos by applying their knowledge of probability theory, but so far they’ve had little success. Nonetheless, many people continue to walk into casinos with the expectation that they will win some money based on the roll of a dice or the spin of a wheel. They do so even though rational people — who work hard for their money and make reasoned financial decisions on a daily basis — throw hundreds or thousands of dollars away based on nothing more than the luck of the draw or the roll of a die.
While many films portray the glamorous side of Las Vegas – its opulence, neon signs and gamblers winning and losing at cards and slots – few do so with as much depth as Martin Scorsese’s Casino. The film reveals the darker history of the city and its former ties to organized crime, while providing a riveting look at the seedy underbelly of gambling.
It’s a drama about the mobster who ran a Vegas hotel (played by Robert De Niro) and the sex worker who kept him honest (Sharon Stone). It also tells the story of how that same man lost control of a city that mints billions in gambling profits each year.
