Warren Beatty hates casinos and gambling, he did this movie mainly as a favor to his mentor, director George Stevens.
Frank Sinatra was originally cast as Joe Grady, but dropped out due to concert commitments according to Kine Weekly on November 16, 1968. He was replaced by Warren Beatty.
Production was delayed two months because Elizabeth Taylor needed time to recover from a hysterectomy.
This was such a box-office bomb that it was double-featured at a Long Beach, California drive-in with the so-bad-it's-good science fiction movie The Green Slime (1968). Adding insult to injury, this movie was listed second on the marquee.