With the owner coming to retrieve the ticket, Tepper realizes that he needs to win the game not just for the sake of the owner, but also for the chance to get his Finder’s Fee for securing the ticket and the lottery ticket. In fact, the better a student is at gambling (or the more they have won at the very least) the higher up the food chain they rank. Everything is going well at the academy until the day Yumeko Jabami, the main character transfers to the academy. The girl is ignored and put down by her peers but that quickly ends when everyone realizes that she is the best gambler they have seen. Craig’s character, the charismatic daredevil double-oh-seven, appears in the movie to play a game of cat and mouse against Le Chiffre, portrayed by Mads Mikkelsen, who is a criminal genius with a soft spot for poker.
Molly’s Game (
Those who used to visit the land-based casinos changed gears and enrolled in online gambling platforms. Well, William H. Macy plays a loser who is so good at losing that a casino highers him to sit at a craps table and ruin everyone else’s luck. It won two of its nine nominations at the 34th Academy Awards, and has since been selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry. And as Fast Eddie seeks to test his pool hustling aptitude against the professional player “Minnesota Flats”, the stars of this sports show in Newman and George C. Scott lead the project to utter greatness.
THE COLOR OF MONEY (
And it actually explores its characters to a meaningful extent while also showcasing the inner workings of Vegas. “Casino,” directed by Martin Scorsese and widely regarded as one of the best casino movies ever made, tells the story of the early days of the Las Vegas casino industry. It’s important to note, however, that while the film is set in Las Vegas, it doesn’t focus on the first Vegas casino. Starring Oscar Isaac, “The Card Counter” is about the exploration of personal redemption set against the backdrop of poker tables. Isaac portrays an ex-military interrogator turned gambler whose haunting past is continually at odds with his present. The world of casinos and the act of counting cards become a part of his new life while trying to prevent a young man from seeking revenge on a mutual enemy.
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Honeymoon in Vegas follows Jack Singer (Cage), who promised to never get married to his mother when she was dying. However, he still proposes to his long-term girlfriend, Betsy (Sarah Jessica Parker) and they fly to Las Vegas to get married, where Jack loses Betsy in a high-stakes poker game that has been rigged. 21 follows Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) who will need to have $300,000 for the program in order to get admitted into Harvard School of Medicine. He and five other MIT students received training to be professionals at card counting in blackjack as a result, and they later used Las Vegas casinos to earn millions of dollars. In any event, Eddie Garrett, a gambling addict, is tasked to stash the money for an acquaintance – if that’s what you can call a local thug who is rummaging through your kitchen one morning – who is heading into prison.
TWO FOR THE MONEY (
- This classic dramedy often tops the list of the best casino movies, offering a stellar performance from Elliot Gould, who plays a casual gambler.
- Confidential/Wonder Boys/8 Mile/In Her Shoes run with this mostly hackneyed story of a superstar poker player (Eric Bana) with a complicated relationship with his even bigger superstar poker-player father (Robert Duvall).
- There’s the millionaire Slade who just wants to win so he can dance on a grave and doesn’t care how it’s done.
- If you enjoyed watching any of these top 5 casino-themed movies and want more similar suggestions, you’re in luck.
- In Australia, losing all your money gambling leads to drinking binges and fighting kangaroos, or at least it does in the eccentric psychological thriller Wake In Fright.
- The movie runs the gamut of things a viewer would expect to find in any great movie on gambling; greed, deception, money, power, and even murder.
- Sam convinces Ginger to return with Amy, then overhears her planning on the phone to kill him.
His debt is eventually purchased by a match-fixing syndicate who see Slagter as an asset and push him to fix games in a low-tier division of the event. Kakegurui is Netflix’s highly acclaimed series about a girl who gets admitted to a school that teaches pupils how https://true-fortune.us/ to gamble and cheat. Based on the award-winning popular Japanese manga, the TV series stays true to the original and creates a great gambling movie. The plot centers on the Hyakkaou Private Academy, which, as noted, is all about teaching its students to gamble.
The Card Counter (
Let’s delve into these noteworthy mentions that deserve their moment in the spotlight. We are a free service that gives you access to casino reviews, a wide array of bonuses, gambling guides & blog posts. We have financial deals with the operators we present, but that does not affect the results of our reviews. As long as you follow the expert’s advice, you will be having a healthy and safe gambling experience. CasinoAlpha’s leadership in the industry is meant to make a change for a better future. In the Army of the Dead, you get to see Las Vegas in a different light, in a thrilling setting just as dangerous as a game of Russian Roulette.
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The movie is of course a highly romanticized version of actual events, but it’s captivating and definitely one of the top gambling movies on Netflix to watch on any day. Then you can pretend you are in your own movie playing against hardened pros. Movies about gambling take audiences on exhilarating journeys with characters who face overwhelming odds, yet navigate through with luck, strategy, and skill. Gambling is an integral part of each story’s unfolding, whether through the gamblers’ pursuit of fortune, the excitement of outwitting adversaries, or the psychological battles they wage against themselves. The immersive plots and stunning visuals of these casino movies cause viewers to become fully invested in the characters and their gripping stories.
The Best Gambling Films
We’ve previously looked at the best poker movies and best casino movies, but with Christmas & New Year drawing closer, we know many gambling fans will be settling down to watch a movie or two during the winter break. Featuring Clive Owen in the title role, Croupier is one of the most remarkable and distinctive casino films ever made. Most movies set in casinos usually present the gambling world from the gambler’s point of view. Trying to keep up with all of the twists in Lucky Number Slevin is almost as difficult as picking a winner in a horse race but just as entertaining. Nothing captures the stress of a gambling addiction more than Uncut Gems, the Adam Sandler-starring film about a New York City jewelry dealer who can’t stop himself from chasing the big win. He owes money to everyone in town, including the mob, bookies, watch salesmen, his own brother-in-law, and basketball legend Kevin Garnett.
- They set out to sharpen their skills, with Vincent eventually out-hustling the original hustler.
- Maverick is a 1994 Western comedy film starring Mel Gibson, directed by Richard Donner, gaining a 7/10 IMDb rating and 68% Rotten Tomatoes.
- The accurate representation of gambling psychology is one of the reasons this film is worth watching.
- You can find many casino movies on Netflix that are worth watching for educational purposes and entertainment as well.
- Highly organised, trained and intelligent they take on the big casinos and win.
- He’s Jack, an aspiring novelist desperate for money — soon, he’s a croupier getting to know the world of casino gambling.
- Ben Campbell, a maths major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wants to study medicine but he cannot afford the tuition fee.
- Clive Owen delivers a riveting performance in “Croupier,” portraying a struggling writer who starts working as a croupier.
Money, Explained
The conflict makes for a great drama, as long as you’re watching the original ’70s film with James Caan and not the hated 2014 Mark Wahlberg remake. Despite 007’s legendary fondness for gambling, the James Bond movie franchise has only featured Macao twice over the course of its more than 60 years of history and 24 films. It nonetheless pays homage to the real life floating casino, Macau Palace, which makes its appearance in the ninth film, The Man with the Golden Gun.
Gambling Supervisors and Licenses
The story of law student Mike who, surprise surprise, is a bit of a gambling addict and loses all his cash and his journey of revenge and redemption against the man who sent him broke. The characters are great, especially the just about believable villain Teddy KGB, and the poker is the right side of plausible while also being ridiculous enough to be entertaining. Led by their professor, The Last Casino follows Professor Barnes as he puts together a team of students to pull off an epic live casino takedown. The math geniuses battle with trying to win big while battling the pressures brought on by Barnes, who fights his own demons in a compulsive gambling addiction.
The Gambler (
As Jack becomes increasingly embroiled in the world of high-stakes gambling, he finds himself drawn into a web of deceit, danger, and betrayal. If you have not watched some of these yet, roll under your blanket and get ready for a thrilling ride full of gambling, betting, and drama. Blackjack remains one of the few “skill” games at the casino and one where given the right conditions and the ability to fly under the radar of the watching staff a skilled team can still beat the house. But as you will find out from the film this doesn’t come without some serious consequences. The shady world of professional tipsters is pretty well laid bare here, but it also conveys the tension, adrenaline rush and mentally bruising nature of sports betting with real heart.
Molly’s Game (
That’s the greatest gross differential from any gambling movie ever released, and that commercial appeal is in large part due to its star-studded cast. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon lead a supporting crew that consists of actors like Julia Roberts, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Casey Affleck, and Elliot Gould. It’s easily the most well-assembled cast any gambling film has to offer, even if all its characters in the end stifle the overall pacing (and realism, for a different time) of the film itself. This Best Picture winner exudes pure pleasure … well, unless you run afoul of Shaw (Paul Newman) and Kelly (Robert Redford), that is. These two con men decide to take down a no-good mobster (Robert Shaw), and their elaborate grift involves card games and horse racing.
- In “Uncut Gems,” Adam Sandler takes on a non-comedic role to embody a character consumed by the thrill of gambling.
- This is pretty much a gambling epic, like a sprawling western directed by Sergio Leone or Howard Hawks with Robert De Niro playing the gunslinging head of the titular location in Casino (1995).
- Before we publish anything, we double and triple-check what we’re recommending.
- Sitting in-between those two periods is The Big Sleep, a charming, sleazy noir about a private eye who flirts with Lauren Bacall and caresses her gambling debts.
- Furthermore, the film’s usage of Vegas as a plot device is clever, standing out from other places in the film.
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Directed by Jeff Probst, the movie has an interesting if somewhat unlikely plot. Tepper, the protagonist, finds a lost wallet on the street and he calls the owner to come and pick it up. In the meantime, Tepper is also part of a bizarre poker game in which the players agree to each purchase a lottery ticket and throw it in the pocket. This whole movie is about a group of students from MIT who back in the 90’s took Vegas by storm. Based on a true story with some embellishments it tells of the exploits of a gang of card counters. Highly organised, trained and intelligent they take on the big casinos and win.
媽閣是座城 A City Called Macau (
Croupier is a character study of one man as he faces temptation – which turns out to be a common theme among movies about casino gambling. Intrigue, suspense, insights, and a powerful performance by Clive Own earn Croupier a spot on our list of the best casino films. And no, the list doesn’t end there, which is why we decided to share some of the all-time top-rated films with casino themes. Though not a traditional gambling film, Ocean’s Eleven is a favorite casino movie.
It also included the Strip and its numerous eye-catching features, which are nonetheless magnificent despite being viewed through the warped eyes of heavily drugged individuals. Five years after Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese returned to the subject of organised crime with this virtuosic chronicle of Las Vegas’s formative years. Starring Robert De Niro and an Oscar®-nominated Sharon Stone, Casino is a technically-dazzling epic from one of America’s greatest living filmmakers. The year 2007 was not exactly easy for the NBA, and the Donaghy scandal made it even less so. Even Donaghy appears in the series to tell his story and admits that he acted foolishly, costing him a lot over the years.
HONEYMOON IN VEGAS (
“Rain Man” earned an 89% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and 90% from audiences, and it grossed $171.2 million in the U.S. Spacey is particularly checked-out here, and the movie was criticized for “whitewashing” in its casting, turning the mostly Asian-American real-life players into generic white people. But for a brief moment, before Spacey is being kidnapped and beaten in a hotel room, it’s an interesting look at the science behind smart gambling.
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Manfred finds himself drawn to a woman who is a gambler at his table – a serious transgression of the casino’s rules for employees. Under pressure from creditors, the woman asks Manfred to be the inside man for a robbery at his own casino. Manfred must evaluate the stakes and consider what he is willing to risk. Croupier describes this distinctive world from a professional dealer’s perspective.
This summer, Macao is set to continue its long-running tradition as a popular film destination when the Netflix adaptation of the 2014 novel The Ballad of a Small Player begins shooting across the city’s various casinos. And a large part of that was due to its cast — aside from Newman, it also featured the likes of Tom Cruise, John Turturro, and Forest Whitaker. But it also had an intriguing premise, with Newman’s character now a retired pool hustler who takes a new gambler (Tom Cruise’s character, Vincent Lauria) under his wing. The result was an absolute pleasure of a plot that fully realizes its main players. “Mississippi Grind” tells the story of two gamblers on a road trip, playing risky games in the American South. This film delves into the psychological aspect of gambling, portraying the superstitions, fallacies, and the thrill of the game that keeps players coming back for more.
Directed by Norman Jewison, many hardcore film fans would cite this as the greatest gambling movie, period. And while director Norman Jewison didn’t top the list with The Cincinnati Kid (1965), the number five spot is nothing to complain about. The film holds an 83% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and it garnered $450.7 million on an $85 million budget.
- Jackie Chan is no stranger to Macao, having shot in the city’s historic sites several times in the past for projects such as Project A (1983) and Miracles (1989).
- We’ll embark on a cinematic journey through 4 distinct portrayals of the betting life, each one raising the stakes higher than the last.
- If you’re interested in classic casino films, you should try watching Rain Man, which stars Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman.
- It follows the story of two poker players as they circle each other looking for an opening or a tell.
- Hall plays Sydney, a seasoned gambler who takes a young drifter named John, played by Reilly, under his wing.
- Based on the award-winning popular Japanese manga, the TV series stays true to the original and creates a great gambling movie.
Paul Newman won his only Oscar for The Color of Money, revisiting the character of Fast Eddie Felson, whom he played in 1961’s The Hustler. “He had to stop gambling,” Scorsese said in Conversations With Scorsese. This isn’t one of Scorsese’s best movies — and as we said earlier, The Hustler is the better overall film — but it’s solid and despairing. Like with Scorsese’s mobsters, these are people who are magnetic but not ones you’d want to spend time with in real life.
Some of those movies even won awards for the way they represented the stories of different gamblers, their struggles, and their obsession. Although “Ocean’s Eleven” isn’t technically a gambling movie, it earns its spot on the list because it really feels like a gambling movie. That is to say, everything about this movie drips with elegance and glamour, coupled with high stakes, bluffing, and gambling-esque tactics. Jumping into the movie is like jumping into a casino, full of tension and excitement.
Manfred’s job is as a croupier at a casino to earn money, giving inspiration for a novel. To further inspire writing, he disobeys a casino’s conduct code, getting caught in a dangerous heist. A popular quote is, ‘Gambling’s not about money… Gambling’s about not facing reality, ignoring the odds.’ Croupier release was two years later & features 3 alternate types, with a 7/10 rating on IMDb and 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. The reason you know director Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham traces back to Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, a dark comedy that is one part heist film, one part gambling film, and two parts hijinks. As a gambling film, Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels succeeds at finding the humor in people trying to cheat their way into money, only to twist their lives around to wiggle their way out of debt.
As these films continue to shape public perceptions, they also spark important conversations about the ethics of gambling, the lure of the casino lifestyle, and the fine line between risk and reward. It follows the story of two poker players as they circle each other looking for an opening or a tell. They compete for the best odds, but sometimes it’s not the right answer.
The vibrancy of emotion and improvisation seems to be unsurpassed in Altman’s production as well. In the purest sense this isn’t a gambling film at all, but it contains more lessons about how to win at sports betting than all all the other films on this list combined. Moneyball is the mostly-true tale of the Oakland A’s rise from zeroes to heroes in Major League Baseball in the US thanks to a radical shift in how they recruited their players.
And that’s hardly scratching the surface of what makes Croupier so great. Directed by Robert Altman, this gambling saga tells the tale of its two primary characters, Bill Denny and Charlie Waters — played by George Segal and Elliot Gould, respectively. A friendship between the two blossoms after a fellow gambler gets angry at them for beating him and taking their money.
As the group were driving toward Las Vegas earlier in the movie Alan could be seen reading a book on blackjack and card counting. Against everything else that Alan manages to do in the movie he actually pulls this off and he wins hand after hand to recoup the money for Chow. Gambling has been around since the dawn of time it seems with ancient scrolls talking of dice games in India as far back as 2000BC and China in 1900BC. Man has always liked to gamble and whether it is legalised or criminalised as it has been in the past and in some regions and countries today people will always find ways to play games for money.
