Owing to the rise of the gambling industry and the scams related to it, through movies, directors are trying to show the essence of this industry, the inner workings, and the psychological journey the gambler goes through.
To your surprise, the global casino market is expected to reach a value of $525 million in 2023 and so are Indian online betting sites . There are hundreds of movies that are based on catch-up betting but only a few of them are able to reach the audience.
In this article, we have tried to curate a list of Hollywood movies based on betting for you to binge-watch on weekends.
21 (2008)
21 film is inspired by the story of a real MIT student who leverages technology to win bets. Ben, starring Jim Sturgess, learns all the intricacies of card counting.
Ben narrates the entire story to the interviewers at the Harvard Med. Every weekend he and his team visited casinos and won, almost to the point that the guard and the workers at the casino recognized him.
This also made him lose his best friend and his robotics project. How he was beaten up by the thugs at the casino and was scammed by Mickey. In the end, however, he outsmarts Mickey and his team and helps the owner catch them.
Mississippi Grind (2015)
Written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Mississippi Grind stars Ben Mendelsohn and Ryan Reynolds.
The story is about two men, gambling addicts, who travel South through different cities, betting in various casinos, and almost end up losing all the money they own. Already in huge debt, they pawn their belongings and again start their gambling journey.
This duo continuously pushes their boundaries, deceiving each other throughout the film but comes up together in the view of their passion for gambling, ultimately ending up in the big win of their life.
Casino (1995)
Casino is another movie based on a book by Nicholas Pileggi. It is based on the true story of a man who ran four casinos for the mob and delved into the world of Crime in Las Vegas in the 70s and 80s.
The first half of the movie is like a documentary where Robert De Niro along with other people discusses how the mobs in Las Vegas have taken millions out of the casino.
Rothstein role-plays Frank Rosenthal, a real-life gambler and mobster. He gains the attention of the mob while he is living his life as a sports oddsmaker in Chicago.
The story is filled with twists and turns, culminating in the death of people who are involved with the mob while some of them end up in jail.
Let It Ride (1989)
This American comedy film directed by Joe Pytka is based on the 1979 novel Good Vibes by Jay Cronley. The story revolves around an unsuccessful gambler whose life takes a big turn when he discovers a tape where two men talk about the upcoming horse race.
Despite the fact that Trotter, one of the cab drivers promises his wife that he will leave gambling, goes with his friend Lonney to place a bet on the horse. He wins the bet.
Filled with this new sense of confidence, he continues his betting journey and becomes wealthy. Although the journey is not an easy one, he gets arrested mistakenly which actually saves him a lot of money.
In the end, he lets it ride and wins big.
Big Shot: Confessions of a Campus Bookie (2002)
The Big Shot movie, directed by Ernest R. Dickerson, stars David Krumholtz as Benny Silman, a mathematical genius. Troy, the campus operator, recruits him as the subcontractor, helping him earn money.
Learning the ins and outs, he goes solo. He gets involved with Chicago transplant Joe Jr. and Big Red. Soon this gambling catches up, and the FBI starts investigating the scheme.
The movie breaks the fourth wall, where Benny himself occasionally talks about the events, and in the end, confesses how his actions had a significant impact on him and the people related during the case and what followed.
Although the movie did not gain much attention, it captured the essence of the hostile world of gambling.
Do You Know? Benny Silman was a former student of Arizona State University who later turned into a campus bookmaker.
Final Words The movies mentioned here are not just about narrating the story of gambling incidents, but they are more inclined towards telling you what goes behind the mind of a gambler.
Most of them are even in the form of a documentary, where the characters break the fourth wall and confess to the audience how the addiction had a bad impact on their life. They also reveal the inner crime world of these casinos.
Along with offering valuable lessons they also offer comic relief and the heart-pounding tension that goes on while online betting. Hope that these movies will catch your attention till the end.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ans: 21 released in 2008 is the movie about a mathematical genius student in Chicago who gets lured by the money that the gambling industry offers. He learns Card counting tricks and wins every bet but is scammed by his team.
Ans: Casino is considered to be one of the best movies based in Las Vegas where a sports oddsmaker runs a casino business under the influence of the mob.
The story is filled with climaxes, leaving the audience awestruck.
Ans: Most of the movies show the thrilling world of casinos and what goes on in the underworld. The crimes that are related are often portrayed in the form of a character getting stuck in the middle of a ring.
Some of them even end up teaching a valuable lesson and how it is easy to get addicted to betting, resulting in unpleasant consequences.
