The goal of a casino is to encourage gamblers to spend money for the chance to win big. According to the American Gaming Association, 51 million people visited casinos in the United States in 2002. These people spent more than $25.7 billion gambling in casinos. The most common games are poker, blackjack, and roulette.

While Casino may seem like a gangster epic, Scorsese takes great pains to show that the mafia’s grip on Vegas was quickly lost to real estate investors and hotel chains with deep pockets. He also exposes the corrupt inner workings of the casinos, from the dealers’ glaring eyes at the pit boss to the skimming of winning bets and the crooked money counting rooms.

Despite the fact that this is a movie about greed and corruption, Scorsese never makes his characters into heroes or villains. Every character is mired in violence, treachery, and avarice. Despite their flaws, we feel for them because they are human. The film is also a reminder that the human toll of such actions can be staggering.

In addition to lighting and visual media, a casino must have security systems in place. An elaborate surveillance system gives employees an eye-in-the-sky view of the entire casino, allowing them to monitor every table and window and watch for suspicious behavior. These surveillance cameras can be adjusted to focus on specific patrons by security workers in a separate room filled with banks of video screens.