A casino is a building where people can gamble and play games of chance. Your grandmother might enjoy taking weekend bus trips to her local casino with her friends. But a casino is also more than that.

In a movie that echoes Goodfellas and Showgirls, Robert De Niro gives the performance of his career as Sam “Ace” Rothstein, a mobster’s top enforcer and Las Vegas’ reigning bettor extraordinaire. As he tries to secure the rackets in a casino his mobster brother (Joe Pesci) runs, Ace gets distracted by a beautiful prostitute named Ginger (Stone). He blindly falls in love and does everything in his power to help her and her bad habits.

Casinos want patrons to lose track of time and money, so there’s no clock on the walls and staff aren’t allowed to mention the time of day. The place is full of smoke and booze that lowers inhibitions and clouds judgment, encouraging patrons to keep throwing coins at the slot machines or cards at the tables.

Every game has a built-in house edge that ensures the casino will be profitable, even if all the patrons lose. To offset the inevitable loss, casinos offer big bettors free spectacular entertainment, transportation, luxurious living quarters and a whole host of other inducements.