It is from this point that McGuire begins her exploration into the gap between ethics and the law, following the trial and speaking to a casino priest, psychologists, and infamous gambler David Walsh. McGuire’s conversations with Walsh on risk and the ethics of gambling are fascinating and rather funny; Walsh is a great storyteller and offers some unexpected perspectives on chance, and why he doesn’t see what he does as gambling.

Walsh aside, the exploration of the psychological aspects of gambling is never fully fleshed out and feels somewhat cursory. McGuire never attains the anticipated ‘gotcha’ moment in what is presented as a tale of a shady casino underworld operating in parallel to the rest of society. Although it is intriguing and slightly horrifying to witness the tactics that Crown’s barristers use to shred the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses, the trial does not turn up anything initially hidden, nor is there a clear-cut case that Crown or its employees enjoy any special treatment. The reader is left disappointed that the narrative does not deliver on its promise of lifting the veil on venality, though it is reassuring as a citizen that no such conspicuous criminality exists.