Whether you love the feel of real money in your hands or the euphoria of gambling, there’s something about casinos that draws people in. But beneath the twinkly lights and glitzy atmosphere of casino games, there’s a bedrock of mathematics engineered to slowly drain patrons of their cash.

While the ambiance of casino games can give patrons the illusion that they have a chance to win, each game has a built-in house advantage that ensures the casino will make money over time. Even games with the best odds, like craps and the roulette wheel, have a house edge that increases the longer you play. But the worst odds are in table games, where your chances of losing go up with every bet you make.

Casino is a movie that exposes all of this. Directed by Martin Scorsese, it lays bare the corrupt web that permeated Las Vegas in the 1970s and 1980s. Its tendrils reached into politics, the Teamsters union, and the Chicago mafia. It also shows how casino corporations took over the once-independent city and shaped its future.

While most movies about Las Vegas only show the glamorous side of its opulent casinos and flashing neon signs, Casino goes beyond that. It reveals the true nature of casino operations and their manipulation of gamblers. Among other things, it explains how casinos use their architecture to influence gamblers and how they create an artificial blissful experience that keeps them coming back for more. It even reveals how casinos use algorithms to manipulate slot machine results by increasing the number of “near-misses,” which can feel like wins but actually keep players playing and lose more money.