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What are the top gambling movies on Netflix you should watch? If you want to find out, read on.
The gambling industry provides fun and entertainment to people, especially to all punters. Gambling started way back to the Paleolithic period, where people used the earliest six-sided dice in Mesopotamia. For hundreds or thousands of years, gambling is inextricably associated with humanity’s history. There were also indications in ancient China of rudimentary games with the use of tiles. In Egypt, experts excavated the oldest known dice. At the same time, in Greek and Roman, pottery showed everyday activities on betting on animal fights, where they train these animals for the sole purpose.
Millions of people worldwide have a great interest in gambling to experience incredible thrill and excitement while competing with other players in winning the jackpot prize. The industry also made its way in amusing its players with movies, as producers get their inspirations to make great films throughout the years. It's a relief that Netflix emerged as a new platform where you can watch some of the old and new gambling movies. If you are interested to see some of these great films, they feature some of them.
Gambling Movies on Netflix
Croupier
Year: 1998
Actors: Clive Owen, Nick Reding, Nicholas Ball
Croupier is a movie that gives you a perspective view from a professional dealer as it ventures into the dark side of the gambling industry. The story is about the image of the casino world, where it stays away from the luxurious Las Vegas casino lifestyle along with the other towns around it. Jack Manfred (portrayed by Clive Owen) is an aspiring writer who took the job as a croupier. He continued to be an observer, knowing that all things in life and he sees all gamblers are losers. The plot centers on smaller card rooms that you can find in London, as people wage more than what they have. Consequently, Jack turned into a gambler himself and lived a casino player's life, which eventually cost him his relationships and his career with novel writing.
Guns, Girls and Gambling
Year: 2012
Actors: Gary Oldman, Christian Slater, Dane Cook, Powers Boothe, Helena Mattsson
With great actors Gary Oldman, Christian Slater, and Dane Cook, this movie delivered an action-comedy setup about revenge, greed, and several Elvis impersonators. The story revolves around a stolen Apache war mask, a priceless tribal artifact from an Indian casino. It caused big trouble among frat boys, modern-day cowboys, criminals, tomahawk-wielding assassins, and a six-foot-tall blonde as they take every opportunity to get the treasure for themselves. An action-packed comedy, Guns, Girls, and Gambling, brings joy and laughter to its viewers throughout the movie.
James Bond: Casino Royale
Year: 1967
Actors: Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, David Niven
James Bond: Casino Royale is a spy comedy movie with cast members Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, and David Niven. They tell the original James Bond 007 to get out of retirement and solve a crime. When Bond heard the news of the death of M, Bond needs to investigate the deaths and disappearances of his co-spies. He was then promoted to lead the M16 and discovered the cause of defeat for many British agents by their enemies – their weakness from sex.
Bond resisted the seduction of many women spies and managed to elude friendship with MiMi/Lady Fiona, with serious affections for Bond. She gives him a hand in uncovering Le Chriffe’s plans to invest money for terrorists in her ways of playing and cheating in baccarat inside a casino. Bond called help from several bogus 007s, including Vesper Lynd, a millionaire spy, to capture the SMERSH agent Le Chiffre.
Casino
Year: 1995
Actors: Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci
One of the film industry’s renowned directors, Martin Scorsese, delivers one of the best casino movies ever shown. The story is based on the book about Las Vegas by Nicholas Pileggi in the 1970s and 1980s. It is about Sam “Ace” Rothstein (played by Robert De Niro), who is the head of Tangiers Casino after being tagged by his bosses as having affiliations with the mob. The business was doing great for him. But problems escalated when his unpredictable enforcer Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci), his ex-hustler wife Ginger (Sharon Stone), her con-artist ex Lester Diamond (James Woods), and some corrupt government officials placed Sam in dangerous situations. The movie exposes how the real Fabulous Las Vegas goes about with business during that era.
Bachelor Party Vegas
Year: 2006
Actors: Kal Penn, Jonathan Bennett, Donald Faison
Bachelor Party Vegas is all about a group of friends who decided to celebrate another friend’s upcoming wedding. They went to Las Vegas and spent a night of dissipation until they encountered one problem: they hired a wedding planner and a bank robber. Everything went into chaos as the group got caught in trouble with the authorities.
Bugsy
Year: 1991
Actors: Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley
One of the best casino films in the industry, Bugsy is about the story of Bugsy Siegel (Warren Beatty), who is a notorious gangster that dreams of creating a gambling paradise in the middle of the Nevada desert later transformed into Las Vegas. Bugsy left New York City and tried the fascination of Hollywood, California, where he built his syndicate gambling businesses. He never gets to see his dreams unfold because of his affair with Virginia Hill (Anette Bening) despite having his own family. His passion for building a gambling haven succeeded, but he got himself in deep water because of the careless construction of the Flamingo Hotel.
21
Year: 2008
Actors: Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne
21 centers its story about an American heist that is based on actual events. Ben Campbell is a bright student from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and needs to fund his tuition fees to continue his studies. With the help of his fellow students and their unorthodox professor, Mickey Rosa (Kevin Spacey), as their fearless leader, they utilized their math wizardry in winning at the blackjack table in Las Vegas. He was seduced by loads of cash and his beautiful teammate (Kate Bosworth), and he found out that the stakes are more significant than what he imagined. Everything was doing great until they crossed paths with the security head of the casino (Laurence Fishburne).
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Year: 1998
Actors: Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro, Tobey Maguire
One of the entertainment industry’s best actors, Johnny Depp, portrays Raoul Duke, a sportswriter with an addiction to drugs. Together with his lawyer, Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro), they went on a three-day tour on a red convertible from Los Angeles crossing the Mojave desert to Las Vegas. They bought a suitcase packed with drugs to cover a motorbike race. They continue to consume all the drugs that they have and even trashed their hotel room. Duke tried to return to L.A. but got into trouble with a cop (Gary Busey) that made him want to return to Sin City and continue his drug binge. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is an adaptation from the book, as Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Hunter S. Thompson, an author, and subjective journalism rebel, is surprisingly profound. As they continue filming the movie, the two managed to create a great bond until Thompson committed suicide in 2005.
Rounders
Year: 1998
Actors: Matt Damon, Edward Norton, John Malkovich, John Turturro, Gretchen Mol
Rounders is a famous film that most viewers see as a typical poker movie. Matt Damon portrays Mike McDermott, a law student and a poker wizard, who tries to navigate the underground poker events in New York to get his chance to play for the World Series of Poker. He loses a game of poker against the Russian gangster Teddy “KGB” (played by John Malkovich) and loses all his savings. His girlfriend urged him to stop gambling, and he obliged. Soon enough, he met with his friend, Lester “Worm” Murphy (portrayed by Edward Norton), who got out of prison and desperately needed funds to pay off an outstanding debt. The duo almost earned the money that they needed but was caught cheating.
Modern Marvels: Las Vegas
Year: 1994
Actors: Wayne Newton, Jack Perkins, Debbie Reynolds
Modern Marvels: Las Vegas is a documentary that centers on the city’s history, development, and progress. It features how it started from Mormon cowtown years to becoming the world-famous gambler’s paradise. The documentary provides details on how the city of lights transpired.
Playing in a casino gives us good memories and incredible experiences, especially when we are winning. Everyone also knows the risk that we are taking whenever we play any games in a casino, and the reward may often not be worth the money we are spending. Casino lovers also know that it is always impossible to go to places like St. Tropez or Reno to gamble and experience what is popular with these places. Instead, we can fulfill our casino fantasies by these top gambling movies on Netflix you should watch. You can still get the casino experience even if you are low on your bankroll right now, and maybe you can learn new strategies and lessons from these movie greats.
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