Casino – The Casino is Designed to Bleed You Out of Cash
Beneath the flashing lights and free cocktails, casinos stand on a bedrock of mathematics engineered to slowly bleed their patrons of cash. It’s happened to everyone: You stride into the Luxor, Mohegan Sun, or Tropicana with your wallet full of cash and your plans for a night of enjoyable, sensible gambling and maybe two rounds of cocktails. Hours later, you have no idea what time it is, how much you’ve spent, or where your money went. It’s not your fault — every aspect of casino design, from sounds to physical layout, is carefully designed to lure you back for more.
Casino is a film that understands this concept better than any other, examining how greed and corruption taint the lives of the key players in Las Vegas and beyond. It is a lean, mean thriller that never lets up and keeps you riveted throughout its almost three-hour runtime.
The first thing you notice when you walk into a casino is the overwhelming amount of gaming tables and machines. Even if you want to go to the bathroom, you will have to travel past many more opportunities to press your luck. Moreover, most casinos dissociate your gambling from the use of real money by changing your cash into colored chips that have no value outside the casino and therefore don’t feel as “real.”
Lastly, most casinos offer a variety of payment methods. This is a good way to attract players from different regions, but it’s important to remember that not all casinos are created equal. You should look for those that prioritize transparency and provide their policies, T&Cs, and regulations in a readily accessible manner.