Casinos are a place of opulence and excitement – where people can bet on anything from poker to roulette. The music is loud, the lights are bright and there’s a certain buzz in the air that makes you want to keep playing. It’s all a carefully designed experience that casinos use to their advantage. They know exactly what keeps their audiences in the building and gambling all night long.

For one thing, they provide free drinks and comped rooms – but the methods they employ go way deeper than that. They use a combination of scents, music, lighting and even a little bit of psychology to manipulate their audience’s behavior. It’s not all about gambling, of course – the casinos also offer a range of food options, entertainment, and other activities to help their visitors forget their worries for a while.

They make use of a variety of psychological tricks to ensure that players keep spending their money, like offering near-misses in slot machines and using the sounds of clinking slots and laughing players to create a manufactured sense of euphoria. They’ll often even use a certain aroma to give the impression of fresh-baked bread or coffee, all of which contributes to the feeling that they are in a happy place and can’t help but gamble.

Another trick casinos use to their advantage is that they offer something that is almost impossible for anyone to resist, and that’s the opportunity to cheat or steal a bit of luck in order to win more than they deserve. This is why casinos are so heavily guarded and staffed with security personnel. But it’s also why they are so fun to visit – there’s always the possibility that you might win big and walk away with more than just your winnings.

While most movies about Las Vegas focus on the glitz and glamour of its heyday, Scorsese’s Casino is a harrowing look at the corruption that ran rampant in the city, with tendrils reaching into politics, unions, Chicago mobs, and a bunch of crooks who couldn’t even win a game of blackjack. It’s not a movie for people who are easily grossed out, but it is an amazing depiction of human tragedy.

But the movie would not be as effective without its stellar cast – and especially Robert De Niro as Ace, a charismatic underworld hero who is unable to play by the rules. But it’s Sharon Stone as the blonde hustler Ginger McKenna who steals the show. She plays the part of a woman who is so ruthless that we are unable to identify with her, yet somehow manages to captivate our attention. It’s a remarkable performance that’s sadly overlooked by the Academy. The film is filled with dozens of sub-plots and brilliant side-characters, but none stand out as much as Stone’s. It’s a shame she didn’t win an Oscar for it.