Top 10 Must-Watch Casino Movies of the 90s: A Nostalgic Journey To Inspire You While Playing in Non-Gamstop Casinos

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.

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Although much of the film is set outside of Macao’s casinos, in locations such as Hac Sa Beach and Kiang Wu Hospital, the film’s MMA matches do take place in the Grand Lisboa. Towards the end of the film, there is also a heartfelt goodbye scene featuring the exterior of the casino resort as the backdrop. Much of the action takes place in Studio City, which is fitting, given that the project was intended to be a promotional short for the integrated resort, which opened the same year in October. Ironically, production took place in less than a week and entirely in New York, as Studio City had not completed construction. As a result, a combination of sets and CGI are used to substitute for the casino. While much of the action is based in England, English’s mission does take him to Macao where he visits the Grand Lisboa casino and tries his hand at a short-lived game of roulette.

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Simply tag us (@filmshortage) on a social media post with your trailer link and the hashtag #shortfilmtrailer included. Heist films are the ultimate guilty pleasure, a scheming world of cons and quips with the audience along for the ride as accomplices. His writing has appeared in NBC, FOX, MSN, Yahoo, Purewow, The Playlist, The Wrap and Los Angeles Review of Books. While not as good as Oceans 11, the line, “I don’t gamble, not with people’s lives” is maybe the best in the entire franchise. Betting has never seemed as bitterly hopeless as it does in the Safdie Brother’s intense farce about a jeweler (Adam Sandler), the mob, and Kevin Garnett.

• For one, Ratner is a gambling addict who has raked in massive amounts of debt, and he owes money to many people – not all of whom are willing to cut Ratner a break.
• 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.
• Being a math wiz comes in handy, particularly when it comes to counting cards in Vegas.
• 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.
• Since debuting in Western cinema in the 1942 French flick, Gambling Hell, the gaming hub has not looked back, having welcomed such iconic characters as James Bond and Indiana Jones.
• Handicapping is a serious business in Vegas and the high-stakes nature of the world may surprise some but the themes will be achingly familiar to anyone who’s placed a sports bet before.
• Jim Sturgess plays Ben Campbell, an MIT math student who learns to count cards with the help of a professor.
• In the same vein, Rounders is a poker movie about a professional poker player making a comeback after serving time in prison.

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The result is California Split (1974), a wonderful character study that delves deep into the dangers of gambling addiction. There’s no denying this entry as a classic of the gambling movie ilk, and although it hasn’t aged as well as some of its older counterparts, it will forever be remembered for its tangible tone and rock-solid narrative. And those accolades are more indicative of the film’s actual quality than its acclaim from critics or number of tickets sold in theaters. William H. Macy stars as the titular character Bernie Lootz — and as a cooler in a casino, he acts as bad luck for the other gamblers, placed there by the casino themselves as a sort of negative presence.

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Daniel Craig’s debut as James Bond redefined the character, bringing a gritty realism to the franchise. The film’s gripping central scene takes place at Montenegro’s luxurious Casino Royale, where Bond must outplay the sinister Le Chiffre in a nerve-racking game of Texas Hold’em poker. In this article, we explore the top 10 best casino movies of all time, providing you with cinematic gems that captivate both gambling aficionados and film lovers alike. We used the iMDB rating as the main criteria for differentiation because it happened to reflect our perspective on the listed Netflix casino movies. However, you should keep in mind that iMDB ratings are based on viewer input, not expert opinion, so take them with a grain of salt.

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Directed by Steven Soderbergh and featuring an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Julia Roberts, “Ocean’s Eleven” is a stylish and slick heist film set in the glamorous casinos of Las Vegas. Clooney stars as Danny Ocean, a charismatic ex-con who recruits a team of skilled criminals to pull off an ambitious robbery of three of the biggest casinos in Vegas. Gambling is the setting rather than the content of this story and it’s all the better for it with the casino giving the film its heart and its edge while the engaging story of those who try and make money from it plays out.

Feature List

Kim Yoon-seok, who played Macao Park, mentioned that during a fight scene with Lee Jung-jae’s character, he had to deal with distractions from the non-actors around them who would shout, clap and laugh. Actress Kim Hae-sook, on the other hand, found that she was struggling to complete a scene under a time constraint as she kept hitting the jackpot on the slot machine, even though her character was meant to be losing. The film talks about the life of Henry Hill and his allies’ criminal careers.

Lights, Camera, Action: The 10 Best Casino Movies of All Time

To get away with your bulls in this game show, you must be able to put on a credible poker face. It is not enough to have a budget when you want to gamble at the casino. In a parlay bet, every selection in the wager has to win to secure a fast payout. We have paid partnerships with the online casino operators featured on our site. However, these partnerships do not affect our reviews, recommendations, or analysis.

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• Like with Scorsese’s mobsters, these are people who are magnetic but not ones you’d want to spend time with in real life.
• It portrays Las Vegas and its casinos in the most exaggerated way possible.
• The worst gambling addicts are the ones who seem to be addicted to losing yet always think they have a shot at winning, and Eddie Garrett (Jake Johnson) in Netflix’s original comedy film Win It All fits that bill perfectly.
• Ratner tries a few ways to secure the money he owes – mostly by gambling more, going deeper into debt, and ultimately relying on his wife, with whom they are about to get a divorce.
• It’s an endlessly intelligent film that will likely satisfy any gambling addicts looking for a realistic movie about poker — that’s almost entirely due to the wit of Sorkin’s script.
• The film is an insightful exploration of the gambling lifestyle and the different forms it can take.
• Find out which of Ebert’s picks was “one of the worst movies ever made.”

This film was directed by Martin Scorsese and received five Oscar nominations. In the same vein, Rounders is a poker movie about a professional poker player making a comeback after serving time in prison. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, and Gwyneth Paltrow, “Hard Eight” is a neo-noir thriller set in the world of Reno’s casinos. Hall plays Sydney, a seasoned gambler https://true-fortune.us/mobile/ who takes a young drifter named John, played by Reilly, under his wing. Essentially it’s a story of a guy who is down on his luck and finds a bag of money and proceeds to rinse through it at a rate of knots before trying to “win it all” back. Smartly written and with characters that go beyond your usual poker player on a downswing trope make this a good watch with an ending that will likely live in the memory.

• No, you can have the same fun when you try the Polish online casino sites that offer a variety of games.
• Even the promised reward of $10,000 for safekeeping the bag cannot help Garrett hold onto his word.
• 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.
• There’s betrayal, enraptured Martin Scorsese directing, and enough banter between Newman and Cruise to make this a must-see classic, gambling or not.
• Owing a local loan shark as well, Professor Bennett has a week to pay it off or it will cost him his life.
• Next on our casino movies list is an evergreen classic called “The Sting,” which brings together Paul Newman and Robert Redford in a brilliant story about elaborate cons and cunning wit, all centered around a dangerous betting plot.

Cinema Review: 50 BEST CASINO MOVIES OF ALL TIME

With the Mafia now out of the casino industry, nearly all the old casinos are demolished, and new casinos are built with money from junk bonds. Paul Thomas Anderson is known for his films Boogie Nights and Magnolia. Both would be full of characters and stories in a way reminiscent of Robert Altman’s films. Anderson’s debut-length Hard Eight (1996; originally called Sydney) is a whole another story; it focuses greatly, not rushing at all, on its four protagonists.

TWO FOR THE MONEY (

If you’re looking for the best movies about casinos to get ready for the slots and games, we’ve got you covered. The film is based on a true story of the MIT blackjack team, a group of college students who win millions of dollars from Las Vegas casinos by using their math skills and a card counting system. The story goes that Robert Altman sent Elliot Gould the screenplay to California Split, hoping he’d play Charlie, a gambler who befriends fellow gambler Bill (George Segal). And yet the two men’s rakish charm, in one of the high watermarks of ’70s hangout cinema, makes this not just a great buddy movie but a beautiful exploration of boys-will-be-boys friendship. And, of course, there’s a whole lot of gambling, which Altman films with casual mastery, letting us eavesdrop on the weird characters and dangerous oddballs who populate that world. California Split remains perhaps the director’s most underrated classic — and its gut-punch ending is so muted, yet so perfect.

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Since debuting in Western cinema in the 1942 French flick, Gambling Hell, the gaming hub has not looked back, having welcomed such iconic characters as James Bond and Indiana Jones. No, you can have the same fun when you try the Polish online casino sites that offer a variety of games. This classic film from Martin Scorsese features an enticing duo in Robert de Niro and Joe Pesci. We get to see the glitz and glam, as well as a cruel, seedy underside that’s packed with mobsters. Based on a book by Nicholas Pileggi, “Casino” offers a thrilling crime drama that’s sure to draw you in. We’ll kick things off with “Croupier,” an intriguing movie starring Clive Owen as Jack Manfred, an aspiring, down-on-his-luck writer.

• Directed by David Mamet, this heist film follows Lindsay Crouse’s character Dr. Margaret Ford as she meets a criminal figure named Mike Mancuso — played wonderfully by Joe Mantegna.
• Win It All is a refreshing change with the flick being a comedy more so than the gutting plot of Uncut Gems or even the tantalizing seductive action-packed plot of Casino Royale.
• “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.
• Directed by Robert Altman, “California Split” follows the friendship between two gamblers played by George Segal and Elliott Gould.
• Going to a casino then was a reason to dress up and the suits and dresses in the movie show the lifestyle being lived by some of the gamblers or at least the lifestyle they aspired to.
• It’s probably been a few years since I’ve seen The Cincinnati Kid, a while since I’ve seen it for maybe the fiftieth time.

Hard Eight (

It’s also a strange blend of gangster brutality, romanticism, and humor that takes some risky aesthetic risks and mostly succeeds. Furthermore, Macy’s excellent acting raises this Vegas-set drama above the standard. Alan is a walking disaster who causes his friends nothing but problems from the moment he accidently drugs them to stealing Mike Tyson’s tiger and kidnapping a gangster named Mr Chow. In between all the mayhem they have also managed to lose their friend Doug who’s bachelor weekend they are attending. Alan has no knowledge of the chips but decides that he can win it back at the casino.

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Gambling is typically portrayed in films as a boys’ club, but Aaron Sorkin’s Molly’s Game shows how women can be even more adept at navigating the treacherous world of underground gambling. As with the best gambling movies, the poker table is only one arena where the stakes are high in Molly’s Game. She relies on gambling the people’s identities from her poker game to keep her money and avoid prison when the FBI comes knocking.

Summary of the Best Gambling Movies

One of the most popular casino movies of the last decade was “21”, which was based on true events. Jim Sturgess plays Ben Campbell, an MIT math student who learns to count cards with the help of a professor. He then recruits a group of brilliant young people to become part of his team.

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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.

Directed by Richard Donner and starring Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, and James Garner, “Maverick” is a lighthearted Western comedy with a poker twist. Gibson plays Bret Maverick, a charming gambler with a knack for getting into and out of trouble. When Maverick enters a high-stakes poker tournament with the hope of winning enough money to enter a winner-takes-all riverboat poker game, hilarity ensues as he navigates a series of misadventures and run-ins with colorful characters. Another option among the best casino films about gambling of all time is an action-adventure James Bond movie, Casino Royale. 2016 spy film starred Daniel Craig as James Bond, a British Secret Service agent with a license to kill. Bond plays Le Chiffre in a high-stakes poker game at Casino Royale to topple his organization.

The Hangover may not be top-tier independent pop art, but it epitomizes humor at its finest, which is simple, unadulterated fun, especially when you’re in Las Vegas. Additionally, the film succeeds not only because it is funny, but rather because a much more compelling detective story frames its lackluster comedy. The Cooler is a well-constructed feature with strong performers and exquisite photography.

Caan manages to make his character, who steals from his own mother to pay his gambling debts, one that the audience can still root for. The Cooler embeds itself into the casino milieu, showing the techniques that casinos use to get all the money they can from gamblers. In addition, the film sheds a light on the change in casino policies as the movie’s setting is forced to undergo changes to keep up with modern casinos.

Based on a true story but given the Hollywood treatment, the plot follows several MIT students who are too clever for their own good when the descend on Las Vegas as a crack team of expert card counters. Things begin to fall apart as the team fractures and casino security catches wind of their scheme. But he is about to spend it again when he has a medical emergency and is rushed to a hospital. The movie ends, but although it depicts a happy ending, we need to be reminded that gambling addiction and problem gambling ought to be treated seriously. We wholeheartedly recommend watching Money, Explained in its entirety as it’s a highly educative if somewhat mass culture series.

It is no wonder why; Barbet Schroeder, also famous for big hits as Barfly, Reversal of Fortune, and Single White Female, was the director behind this crazy, enticing thriller. Jacques Dutronc plays the role of a charming man with a severe gambling addiction. His situation becomes more complicated when he gets entangled in the cheating schemes of another man. Watch this thriller and follow these gamblers’ inevitable road to doom. A 2003 biopic based following Stu Ungar, an American professional poker & gin player. It explores how Ungar, nicknamed ‘The Kid’, turned into a gambling superstar.

Oscar Isaac (Star Wars, Dune) stars as ‘William Tell’, an ex-con who is a seasoned card counting blackjack player, and on a one-man tour of US casinos looking for his next payday. Trouble soon comes calling in the form of the FBI, as the players at her New York game start to include Russian Mafia characters and fraudulent investors, and Molly becomes addicted to drugs to maintain her high-pressure lifestyle. Heavy on the drama and tension, this Academy Award-nominated film is worth a couple of hours of anyone’s time. There are countless movies that are centred entirely around casino gambling or have entire scenes dedicated to playing slots, blackjack, craps, roulette, and baccarat. It’s pretty cool seeing the mix, from old-school vibes to the new high-stakes dramas.