In the movie, exceptionally bright and talented students, especially in the field of Mathematics are observed by Micky Rosa, a professor of the university, who recruits and teaches them the art of card counting and other winning strategies. Chang remains involved in counting cards but has since been blacklisted in most casinos.

The third person, John Chang, an MIT Electrical Engineering graduate joined them in late 1982. His chance meeting with Kaplan was timeous and together they managed the team throughout the 1980s. One of the first to join Kaplan was JP Massar, whose interest in gambling led him to attend a university short course entitled ‘How to Gamble If You Must ’. Kaplan himself was from Harvard as well as Jane Willis the real-life Jill Taylor in the movie. Unlike the movie, students were recruited from sources other than the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Having already recruited and trained a similar team in Vegas, he formed the MIT Blackjack Team employing the same business principles and practices as before.

In real life, the team was formed by three individuals, with the brains behind the initiative being Bill Kaplan, a Harvard Business School Graduate.

Is movie casino based on true story