A casino is a gambling establishment that offers games of chance such as blackjack and roulette. Typically, casinos have lavish decor and offer top-tier dining to their guests. They also attract a large number of visitors which stimulates the local economy. The casino industry is a global business that has grown in recent years. It is estimated that the total value of the industry is more than US$150 billion. The largest casino in the world is in Macau, China.
The use of a casino as a metaphor for sin and temptation is common in Western culture. It is an archetype that reflects society’s fascination with rogues and outlaws at the edge of civilisation, as illustrated by stories such as Shane and Once Upon A Time in The West. In the same way, the cowboy morphed into the criminal outlaw and then into the gangster, all of which embody the idea of a structureless world that is amoral and uncontrollable.
The main characters in Casino are on a gradual path to destruction, with all of them unable to escape their pasts. This is underscored by the cinematography, which repeatedly smothers the edges of the frame with darkness. As a result, the subjects in the shot stand out as glitzy figures against the blackness of their surroundings. This is a visual motif that permeates the film, and it also appears in Scorsese’s other films, such as Goodfellas. The film also reveals the ways in which the mob sucks up money and then loses it through greed, lust, and hubris.