After the success of Goodfellas, Scorsese and Universal hoped to capitalize on the momentum with a film about Vegas and its seedy underbelly. Casino is that movie, an epic history lesson about the city where the mafia lost control and giant gambling corporations took over. It features De Niro and Pesci reuniting for the second time after Raging Bull and introducing the world to their explosive dynamic. And while Casino focuses on three main characters, it explains how Las Vegas became what it is today, a place that continues to reinvent itself.
The first thing you notice when walking into a casino is a sea of gaming tables and machines. The managers want you to lose track of time and keep betting. They don’t care if you win or lose, just that you keep playing. The flashing lights and blaring sounds are designed to be so compelling that you don’t think about the fact that you may have already spent all your money or that you are headed back to the hotel for dinner and sleep.
Despite the many drawbacks, casinos have a positive impact on local economies. They bring in tax revenue that helps governments maintain services and avoid cutting programs or increasing taxes elsewhere. They also create jobs and often bring up average wages for the surrounding area. In addition, they tend to attract skilled workers from other areas who increase employment opportunities for lower-skilled residents. This has a positive effect on unemployment, which decreases as the new workers bring higher wages to the neighborhood.