GAME ON! Viva Las Vegas: Casino in Cinema – Insanely Interesting Facts About Gambling Movies in Cinema History

Being that it’s one of the most practiced leisure activities in the world, gambling has found itself as a topic in many books, songs, and, of course, movies. The cinema industry has explored the gambling topic ever since the beginning of the 20th century, as the first such movie was produced in 1908.

Playing casino games has always attracted people from all over the world. Today, when there’s a lot of online casinos, the number of gamblers seems to be on the rise.

The review website Casino Sites tells you where you can play slots, poker, blackjack, roulette, and other casino games on the internet, but we won’t focus too much on the gambling itself in this article.

Instead, we will explore the connection between casino and cinema, and tell you some interesting facts and details that you probably didn’t know until now. Read on!

How Are Casino Movies Accepted?
Many casino movies grew to be cult classics, as people love the ambient of a casino house and stories that have to do with gambling. Whether these movies are about success, failure, robberies, or mafia organisations, casino films are a magnet to the audience.

Some of the most profitable movies to date include titles like Casino, Casino Royale, The Hangover, Ocean’s Eleven, Rounders, Rain Man, and others. Every single one of these movies recorded a hefty box office take and got high scores on review sites such as IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes.

Female Characters in Casino Movies
Although most people consider gambling to be a “guy thing,” there are, in fact, many women gamblers in the world. Therefore, you can see a lot of female characters in gambling movies too, and some of them even have leading roles.

Some of the top female roles in gambling movies belong to Barbara Stanwyck (Gambling Lady), Kathleen Byron (Gambler and the Lady), Delta Burke (Going for Broke), and Keira Knightley (The Duchess).

Viva Las Vegas!
Once a desert town in the middle of Nevada, Las Vegas became the gambling capital during the 50s and 60s. Over the past 70 years, it is estimated that there have been more than 250 movies set and filmed in Las Vegas.

Movies like Ocean’s Eleven, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Viva Las Vegas, The Hangover and Diamonds Are Forever have all been filmed here. Some of the most popular locations for filming in this city include luxury casino resorts such as The Flamingo Casinos, Sahara, Riviera, Desert Inn, Stardust Casino, Circus Circus Casino Hotel, Bellagio, and others.

Casino Movie Topics
Some of the movies that we mentioned so far are not specifically about gambling but merely related to it. For example, the 2007 James Bond movie Casino Royale is more about the action and the adventures of the secret agent 007 than it is about him playing favourite card games like baccarat, craps, and poker.

Ocean’s Eleven is about a big casino robbery that a group of individuals tries to pull out. While the action is set in a casino, there’s only a couple of scenes that show actual gambling.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a Hunter S. Thompson’s book that made it onto the silver screen in 1998 with Johnny Depp starring as the main character. The film explores the drug-induced adventures of a journalist and his lawyer. It is only set in Las Vegas, with no gambling included whatsoever.

If you want to watch a movie with an actual gambling toivpic, we suggest Rounders. It’s a story about a young gambler (Matt Damon) who loses money to an ex-KGB agent (John Malkovich) in a game of poker and promises to quit gambling until his old friend is in need of paying off an old debt.

Movie Stars and Gambling
What you see in a casino film is just an act, but some movie stars do have a lot of experience with gambling.

Namely, Matt Damon’s character loses $30,000 in Rounders, but the actor himself is believed to have gambled away close to $30,000 in real life.

Runner Runner features popular movie star Ben Affleck, who once won a poker tournament with a prize of $350,000.

George Clooney, who is known for his legendary role of Frank Ocean in Ocean’s Eleven, build a real multi-billion dollar casino back in 2005.


Movie-Themed Gambling Games
The casino culture inspired a lot of movie makers, but some films have also inspired slot game developers to make movie-themed games.

Slot machines with movie topics include titles like X-Men, Iron Man 2, Terminator, Rocky, Game of Thrones, and others.

Hangover is a casino movie that also became available as a gambling game. In this video slot from 2011, you get to play on five reels and 40 paylines, and you can bet as low as 50 cents per spin.