A Casino is an entertainment venue that offers top-notch hotels, spas, restaurants, gaming options and live entertainment. The best ones are licensed and adhere to high standards of integrity, transparency and accountability – this creates trust for players.

It’s happened to everyone: you stride into the Luxor, Mohegan Sun or Tropicana brimming with confidence and a wallet full of cash, ready for a bit of enjoyable and sensible gambling and a few rounds of cocktails. But then you get sucked in and, hours later, have no idea what time it is or how much money has been lost to the twinkling lights and joyful sounds of the slot machines and tables.

While many of Scorsese’s violent scenes in Casino are over the top, they faithfully depict what happens to real people who become caught up in mafia-style corruption. De Niro and Sharon Stone are outstanding, but it’s Joe Pesci’s performance as a hard-boiled gangster that gives the film its spine.

Casinos are designed to keep you inside them as long as possible, making sure that there is always a table or machine calling out to you. They use curving paths and strategically placed gaming sections to catch your eye as you walk around and, more importantly, to prevent you from leaving to fulfil basic human needs like the bathroom or food. They also take advantage of the sunk cost fallacy by letting you earn points on your losses, so that even a bad bet can give you something for free, like that dinner you couldn’t afford to pay for earlier in the day.