We’ve all been there: You stride into the Luxor or Mohegan Sun, wallet filled with cash and hopes of a bit of enjoyable, sensible gaming and maybe two rounds of drinks. But then hours later you’re not sure what time it is, how many drinks you’ve had, and where all your money went. That’s because casinos are designed to keep you gambling for as long as possible. They use sounds, lights, and even physical design to trick you into spending more and more. Business Insider has rounded up nine tricks they use to get you hooked.
Casino is Martin Scorsese dialing up the Mafia vibe of Goodfellas and Mobster up to 11. The first hour plays like a documentary, with narrator Sam “Ace” Rothstein (Robert De Niro) explaining how his fictional Tangiers hotel was basically a mob car wash—a way for the mafia to skim millions out of the Las Vegas machine while making it appear to be doing good works.