Casino is a movie about gambling, and it’s also a movie about money. It asks us to consider how rational people, who earn wages and make reasoned financial decisions on a daily basis, can throw hundreds or thousands of dollars away based on the literal roll of the dice, spin of the wheel or draw of the cards.
It’s a good question. The answer, which Casino lays out as it depicts the casino business and its relationship to organized crime, lies in a combination of things. For one, the house always wins. Even when players “win” a few hundred or thousand dollars, they’re still losing money to the casino, which calculates odds for every game and knows that its house edge is mathematically inevitable.
In addition, the casino business is highly addictive. The lights flash, the music blares, and whenever someone hits a jackpot or rakes in a few grand at the tables, there are cheers. This creates a false sense of possibility and keeps people coming back, despite the fact that the odds are against them.
As a result, many casinos encourage players to stay by giving them “comps”—free goods and services like hotel rooms, meals or show tickets. They even give limo service and airline tickets to heavy spenders. Regardless of how the movie plays, however, it’s hard to say that Casino isn’t one of the best movies of all time. The cast is terrific, but Sharon Stone’s performance as blonde hustler Ginger McKenna is the film’s undeniable highlight.