After the roaring success of Goodfellas, it only made sense for Martin Scorsese to follow up with another mob epic, this one set in Sin City. Casino is that film, and it tells the story of a faction of mafiosi running casinos in Vegas during the ’80s. Its most famous sequence, a money counting room with deliberate echoes of the Copacabana interlude in Goodfellas, is a masterful piece of filmmaking that allows us to watch Ace Rothstein (Robert De Niro) skim off the top with meticulous precision.

But it’s the human drama of the film that really sets it apart, and there are so many captivating themes to explore. There’s the gangster-and-his-moll dynamic, the pseudo-romantic dynamics between De Niro and Stone (with a feisty trophy wife who is first pushed around by her obnoxious boyfriend then stands up to him), and the relationship between Sam and loose-cannon Nicky Santoro that gradually turns toxic.

In the end, the film’s climax, played out over images of the Tangiers being torn down, is a devastating lament for a fading world. But it also reveals how the casinos were already starting to win the war against the mob, and that even when you control a town it’s not guaranteed to last forever.

Modern casinos have a lot to worry about, from the cost of free drinks to the way they depress local property values. But the heart of a casino is still the gaming floor, and that’s where you can find the games that can make you rich. Today’s casinos have a variety of options, including slot machines with varying payback percentages and live dealer tables from top developers like Ezugi.