Casino – Goodfellas and Other Casino Tricks to Keep You Gambling

Casino is director Martin Scorsese dialing up Goodfellas to 11. It’s a gangster movie about a mob kingpin funneling money out the back door of his fictional Tangiers hotel in Vegas. It’s a morality carwash, to him and his best buddy from back home in Chicago, Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci).

A casino’s visual stimulation is intended to trigger the brain’s reward system, creating a manufactured blissful experience that draws people in. Dazzling lights, cheerful sounds, and the aroma of freshly baked bread are all used to lure gamblers in and keep them gambling longer. In fact, many people start betting as soon as they enter a casino and sit down at a table—making their first bet before even choosing a game.

Moreover, casinos strategically place essential amenities like toilets, restaurants, and cash machines deep within the gaming area to force players to walk past numerous slot machines, tables, and other games every time they want to use them. This makes them more likely to make spur-of-the-moment decisions to stay and gamble even longer, as well as spend more than they originally intended.

Another trick casinos employ is to offer free drinks—which also help blur a person’s sense of time and money spent and keeps them in the gambling environment longer. Combined with the artificially positive experience and a rush of dopamine from betting chips, this can result in a significant increase in spending. Another psychological tactic involves using near wins to entice players to continue gambling in hopes of a jackpot. In fact, some casinos will raise payouts over the weekend in order to encourage players to stick around until they win.