In an idea pinched straight from a popular gambling forum, I decided to ask around the office to find out the staff’s favourite gambling movie characters. It’s only when I started asking did I realise just how many of the film’s quintessential characters stem from casino, betting or poker flicks. It also means I now have an extensive list of movies to rent out this weekend! 
#10. Kevin Spacey as Prof Mickey Rosa in 21. A top film that looks at the true story behind some egg heads from MIT making a packet from a casino. Highly entertaining stuff and, as always, Spacey’s performance is commanding.
#9. Mel Gibson as Bret Maverick in Maverick. No one mentioned this film, but I like it so it’s on the list. Buwhaha.
#8. Danny Ocean (George Clooney). This is one smooth operator but we’re an old fashioned bunch here, so more people preferred Sinatra’s performance in the same role (#5).
#7. After some careful prompting people ‘remembered’ that the recent hit film The Hangover is set in Vegas and is kinda gambling related. One of my favourite films to hit the silver screen in some time, it really is a laugh a minute stuff. Erm, which character in particular? Take your pick!
#6. Without being able to put our finger on who really shone, we all really liked the Lucky Number Slevin. You’re thinking, ‘how’s that gambling related? Am I right? Well, remember the whole plot starts from a fixed horse race. Yup, a tenuous connection at best, but what a great film. With Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, Sir Ben Kingsley, amongst other big names, how could this be bad?
#5. Danny Ocean (Frank Sinatra). You know it’s a good plot when a film makes the same list twice with two different actors. Sinatra opitimises the cool casino type so the role was made for him. An absolute classic – what else do I need to say?
#4. Everyone in the film Casino. A huge (verbal) fight broke out here when we tried to agree on who was the best character in this classic. In an attempt to be diplomatic I’ll mention De Niro’s ‘Ace’ Rothstein and Joe Pesci’s Nicky Santo as the two outstanding characters. (Of course everyone knows it Santo though…)
#3 ‘Fast Eddie’ Felson performed by Paul Newman in the Hustler. A classic film apparently with a strong following here. Personally, I’ve never heard of it…One for the weekend!
#2. Daniel Craig as James Bond in Casino Royale. Yeah, I know - a tad obvious. But come on, the man has a heart attack and then goes and plays high stakes poker! Of course poker’s not traditionally James’ choice of casino game. It’s baccarat.
#1 and in top spot: Rain Man. Dustin Hoffman as Raymond Babbit – the autistic card counting genius. Despite featuring people beating the casino it still was by far the most popular gambling related film at 32Red! 
Touching and clever, this film cemented Hoffman’s position amongst the Hollywood greats and was another step in Tom Cruise’s meteoric rise to stardom. If you haven’t seen it then you really should.
That’s it; that’s the office’s favourites but rumour has it that Leonardo di Caprio will be starring in a film about online casinos next year. Maybe that’ll make this list then!
What are you favourite gambling films and characters? Let us know below.
Have a great weekend.
Tags: 32red, casino blog, gambling films, online casino blog, top gambilng films