A casino is a place where people come to try their luck at games like poker and roulette. It has flashy decor, music that’s loud and upbeat, and places to eat and drink. It’s a social environment where champagne glasses clink and locals and tourists mingle. And while the idea of winning big is exciting, it’s also an experience where there’s no guarantee that you will.

A casino’s goal is to maximize its profits by attracting customers who are willing to spend money and will return frequently. To do this, they often offer loyalty programs that reward high rollers with free hotel rooms and meals, tickets to shows, spa and health club amenities and even limo service. To determine the profitability of each game, casinos employ mathematicians and computer programmers to calculate the house edge and variance.

Casino has all the marks of a classic: a rich and textured plot, charismatic leads, and a sense of place (it’s set in the liminal space between Victorianism and Modernism). Its violence is brutal and graphic — think of the popped eyeball and the shockingly edited baseball bat beating that have to be seen to be believed — but Scorsese is careful not to glorify it. He’s ambivalent about the gangster lifestyle, even as he portrays Ace and Nicky in their glory days.

Casinos need to think about more than just their gaming floor. They’re often perfect locations for events and group business, and they need to optimize their marketing for those types of opportunities as well.