There have been plenty of movies about Sin City, but few do it as well as Casino. The film doesn’t just show a side of Vegas that the glitz and glamour don’t cover; it’s a history lesson about how the mafia lost control over a town built on vice. And Martin Scorsese’s direction is never less than stunning.

The film follows Sam “Ace” Rothstein (De Niro), a Jewish American gambling expert who runs the Tangiers Casino in Las Vegas for the Chicago Outfit. The mob-controlled casino is a hub of illegal activity, including money laundering, skimming off the top, and payoffs to mob bosses in New York City.

Like Goodfellas, the movie explores the rise and fall of a mafioso, but unlike that earlier film, Casino’s characters are more complex. The film also elicits some of the finest performances from its leads, with Stone in particular standing out in her first leading role since Basic Instinct.

Casinos are designed to be visually stimulating, with flashing lights and bright colors creating a euphoric experience that keeps people coming back for more. They use tactics like near wins—when a player gets close to winning but doesn’t—to make players believe that they are a step away from hitting the jackpot. But no matter what happens, the house always wins in the end. That’s why it pays to know the rules of gambling before entering a casino. This includes understanding how much you can afford to lose.