Casinos are designed to be exciting, lively places where people can let their hair down and have fun. The atmosphere is flashy, the music is upbeat and there are many games to choose from, from slot machines that rely on chance to poker and blackjack, which require some skill. While some casino patrons may tut if their luck doesn’t turn out well, most of them are having a great time.

Like Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls and Goodfellas before it, Casino is a movie that’s both set in and about Sin City. Robert De Niro is a charismatic mobster whose casino business runs in shady circles, and he’s not above skimming cash off the top to help pay off his partners in crime. In one of the film’s early sequences, a prowling Steadicam glides through closed doors and into the money counting room at the Tangiers.

The casino industry relies on its visitors to spend a lot of money. To keep them spending, casinos offer perks called “comps” for frequent players, which can include free hotel rooms, meals, shows and even limo service and airline tickets. The comps help to drive gambling revenue and build a customer database for future marketing efforts.

With so much competition in the market, casinos need to focus on their unique offerings and find ways to stand out from the crowd. This can be accomplished with tried and true casino marketing strategies. These include: