Over the years, there have been plenty of great casino scenes in the movies. There’s something about casinos that draws film directors to shoot scenes in them even when the focus isn’t all about gambling.
Many of us never get to go to a real casino, but that doesn’t mean missing out on the thrill of games like roulette, blackjack and slots. Now that there are so many online casinos like Gala and bgo.com, anyone can play their favourite casino game at any time.
While playing at home might not have quite the same exciting ambience as playing in a land-based casino, the ease with which you can play, for as little as a few minutes at a time, is what makes gaming online so popular. And when you want to experience the glamour of traditional casino, there are plenty of movies that can transport you there.
If you need inspiration on which to watch, click here to visit the bgo blog where they’ve rounded up their top five casino scenes.
It’s an eclectic mix, including the card-counting scene from The Hangover, Dustin Hoffman counting cards in Rainman, the Get your feet off the table scene from Scorsese’s Casino, the moment of misery for Eddy when he loses £500,000 to a crime boss in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and the game of Texas Hold’em between Bond and villain Le Chiffre in Casino Royale.
The kind of movie you choose to watch will depend what mood you’re in. If you like watching slick and action-paced films then one of the Ocean’s trilogy is ideal. As well as the heist angle, there’s a good mix of story and comedic moments in each of the three movies that starred George Clooney as Danny Ocean along with a stellar cast.
For more of a gritty film, then the 1995 Casino movie directed by Scorsese and starring Robert de Niro, Joe Pesci and Sharon Stone is a good choice. It definitely focuses on the darker side of life in the casino industry during the seventies and eighties, and is based on the true story of a real life casino manager who ran casinos in Las Vegas for Chicago gangsters.
A more recent movie that reflects the shift to online casino gaming is Runner Runner, released in 2013 and starring Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck.
Actually, there are very few gambling scenes in this film; it’s more of a thriller scenario about the young poker-playing student who thinks he’s been cheated by an online casino and where his efforts to get his money back lead him. Although it got generally panned by the critics, if you have an interest in online gambling, it’s still worth a watch!
The thing that any movie that features casino can do is transport you to the world of the mega-rich, where thousand dollar stakes are nothing unusual. Most people’s reality may be slightly different in terms of stake sizes, but what’s wrong with a little escapism now and then?