A casino is a gambling establishment that offers a wide range of games of chance. Some of these games are classic table games like blackjack and poker, which require a certain level of skill to master. Other casino games, such as slots and roulette, are simpler and require less skill, but they still offer a chance to win big. Casinos often provide a variety of different stakes to cater to all types of gamblers.

Casinos are built to encourage gamblers to play more and take bigger risks, and they do this by creating a dazzling atmosphere. They use everything from a sexy soundtrack to scented oils in the air to create a manufactured state of bliss for their guests. Casinos also invest a lot of money in security. They need to be able to keep track of all the activity taking place in their facility, and they also have to prevent cheating, stealing, and other illegal activities from happening.

With all this in mind, Casino is an epic crime drama that manages to tell its story with a sense of style and balance. Despite its truly hellacious violence, including a torture-by-vice sequence that includes a popped eyeball and a brutally edited baseball bat beating, the movie never sags or runs out of steam. It’s one of Martin Scorsese’s longer movies, but he keeps it lean and mean throughout. The result is a gripping look at the seedy underbelly of Las Vegas and its mob ties, which extend to politicians, Teamsters unions, the Chicago mafia, and Midwest mafia gangsters.