When you walk into a casino, you’re stepping into a different reality – a place where you can win big jackpots and feel a rush of excitement that you won’t find anywhere else. This is why it is so hard to resist the temptation of a casino visit.
Casinos often use psychological methods in their physical layout, color schemes and gameplay to encourage gamblers to spend money. They even use fragrance in the air to trick gamblers into feeling a sense of freshness and alertness. They typically have no clocks or windows to make it harder to tell the time, and they light the rooms a specific way so that gamblers won’t be able to tell what time of day or night it is outside.
Most casinos offer free drinks to encourage gamblers to drink and lose their inhibitions, which makes them more likely to take risks and spend money. They also play upbeat music and ring bells or sirens to create a sense of excitement and expectation that someone is going to win. Most modern slot machines are games of pure chance and don’t require much skill, although video poker does involve some degree of strategy.
Martin Scorsese’s Casino is a harrowing movie about the rise and fall of the mob in Vegas, but it never feels over-the-top or sensationalized. The violence of the opening scene (the torture of a man with a vice and a car bomb, the murder of De Niro’s character by a carjacker) is matched by taut editing and narration that keeps the movie tight and compelling until its explosive conclusion.