Watch your head. The roulette wheel of casino promises is flying clean off the table, aiming for any gullible fool. Gaming proponents project annual gambling revenues of $1 billion at a Caesars casino at Suffolk Downs. But they are selling us $1 billion of lady luck, industry experts say, a bet that the city will lose.

The smell of cigarette smoke hung heavily over the Great Cedar Hall at Foxwoods Resort Casino one recent weekday morning, as gamblers lit up freely in the cavernous slots machine room.