$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)/References

Cultural references

 * The title is a reference to the 1964 film ' and to the 1978-1981 TV drama '.
 * Burns's bed looks similar to the one occupied by 's character Dave Bowman in the end of the 1968 film, .
 * Homer is impressed by the card-counting abilities of the autistic character Raymond Babbitt (Dustin Hoffman) from the 1988 film ; appears next to him, in character as Charlie Babbitt.
 * Krusty's show at midnight is similar to 's 1971 album , which was recorded at a casino at midnight.
 * Marge reminds Homer that his lifelong dream was to be a contestant on the television show .
 * Burns's obsession with germs and cleanliness and his refusal to leave his bedroom once the casino opens is a parody of American magnate.
 * The "Spruce Moose" is a parody of 's impractically enormous wooden plane Hughes H-4 Hercules, which was derisively dubbed the "Spruce Goose".
 * Homer parodies the scene in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz when Scarecrow demonstrates his newly acquired intelligence by reciting the law that governs the lengths of the sides of an isosceles triangle. Unlike in the film, somebody correctly points out that the recited applies to right-angled triangles, not isosceles triangles, unless there is a right-angle in the triangle.
 * Gunter and Ernst, the -esque casino magicians who get attacked by their white tiger, Anastasia. Ten years after this episode first aired, was attacked by one of the duo's white tigers.
 * The glasses Homer finds belong to former U.S. Secretary of State.

Trivia

 * The Rich Texan makes his debut appearance in this episode, referred to as "Senator" by Homer.
 * Odds at Bart's casino:
 * Edna Krabappel nervous breakdown: 2-1
 * Fat kid popular: 50-1
 * Bart gets his own TV show: 1000-1
 * Homer's photographic memory details himself with huge muscles, Marge in a blue dress and green hair, Apu with three heads, Flanders with a baseball glove for a hand, and an alligator in a suit. Homer then receives a call from the President.
 * Along with several hats, a hair brush and false teeth are thrown into the air at the town meeting.
 * Deleted Scene: James Bond and a villain are playing blackjack with Homer as the dealer. Homer gives Bond a joker. Bond tells him he has to take those away from the deck. Then he gives Bond the card with the game rules. Bond loses and the villain takes him away. The staff liked the scene, so they decided to put it in the clip show episode "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular".
 * This is the episode in which Marge develops her gambling problem.
 * Matt Groening was told that if the restaurant chain appeared in an episode, its creators, Arnold Schwarzenegger and  would guest star. The staff wrote it in as the subplot for the episode but they could not appear and the plot was dropped. Additionally the episode's original script indicates that Robert Goulet's part was written for  and Gerry Cooney's part was written for.
 * Writer Bill Oakley posted the episode's original script on Twitter. It highlights many changes which occurred for the broadcast version, including the full Planet Hollywood scenes.

Continuity

 * Barney previously mistook Maggie for Bart. ("Homer Alone")

Goofs

 * Marge was in the casino for days however she would have been forced to leave after a matter of hours.
 * Smithers said that the casino staff are legally required to ask gamblers every 75 hours if they think they have gambled enough however they would force people to leave after a much shorter time than that.
 * When Homer announces his shift is over at the Blackjack table, the Rich Texan's skin color changes from yellow to brown.