To protect Ace and ensure that this success continues into the future, the Chicago Mafia bosses agree to send Nicky Santoro to Vegas. In little time, Ace shapes up the casino and manages to double its profits by skimming cash directly from the count room. Instead, the mafia puts a frontman to serve as the CEO while Ace manages everything from the shadows. In 1968, an infamous and very successful sports handicapper Sam “Ace” Rothstein, is sent by the Chicago Mafia to Las Vegas to operate the struggling Tangiers Casino.īut, as he has many legal issues with the government, he can’t be officially appointed to run the casino. In this sense, Casino should be viewed as historical fiction. In other words, while none of the characters in Casino are named after any real-life people, many of the events depicted in the movie did occur, with slight differences. That said, before we go deeper into the plot, we should highlight that Casino says that it’s “adapted from a true story.” This makes it less historically accurate than Goodfellas, which was “based on a true story”. Why is all of this important? Because knowing this sets the scene for the beginning of the movie, as the story of Scorsese’s masterpiece begins in 1968. All of this also made the city a prime target for mobsters looking to exploit the situation at the time.īut, while the mafia had a tight hold on the casino business, they never intended to go fully legal and primarily used these businesses to launder money.

It attracted the biggest entertainers at the time and was a popular gathering place for people of all walks of life.Ĭasinos were popping left and right. Since the legalization of gambling in Vegas during the first half of the 20th century, the city has become the biggest gambling destination in the world.ĭuring the 50s and 60s, Las Vegas was hailed as one of the most glamorous and exciting cities in the US.

On this page, we’ll review the plot, backstory, and complex characters that made Casino an instant classic.

This 1995 cinema masterpiece lasts a whopping 178 minutes or just under three hours, and, like most Martin Scorsese movies, it has specific pacing that keeps your attention for the entirety of its duration. The iconic gambling movie Casino came at the height of mob and thriller movies in the 90s, following hits like Scorsese’s Goodfellas and Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.

Casino the movie reviews