 The casino that Hiro, Ando, Niki and Nathan visit in the early  episodes of season one is the Montecito, the fictional casino  featured in the NBC TV series _"Las Vegas" (2003)_ (qv). The scene  where Hiro and Ando are seen coming down an escalator, having used  betting profits from the casino to suit up, pays a very strong  homage to a similar scene in the movie _Rain Man (1988)_ (qv).