This showed Gustavo Ponce, Mexico City's finance secretary, in the pose of a carefree plutocrat, chewing on a fat cigar whilst gambling thousands of dollars at the blackjacktables.
But the bright lights conceal a gambling area where flinty-eyed dealers watch over hard-core gamblers, many lined up three deep at the blackjacktables, loudly outbidding one another for hands.
Activities that once served as loss-leaders to get gamblers in the front door and up to the blackjacktables now produce over half of all revenue at many large casino operators.