Documentaries About Gambling
Great stories exist everywhere, and documentaries are a great way to capture them, while both educating audiences and allowing them to take in a slice of life through a screen. Today, many say that we’re in a golden era of documentary filmmaking, if that is so, then there has to be more than the few that cover gambling, right?
While gambling has probably been around since the beginning of mankind, cinema has only existed for a little over a hundred years. So, it’s only natural to expect that those few documentaries that have gambling as a central element focus on casino games, as the premier expression of this pastime.
Nowadays with everything moving to the digital sphere, it won’t be long before there will be one about the rise of online casinos. You used to have to walk to a physical place to place a bet, now, all you need to do is google – best online casino, register and play any table game your heart desires. If roulette games are your thing, they’ve got you covered with such a vast selection that will make your head spin. Casimba online roulette games are supplied by some of the world’s greatest game providers, which means a quality gaming experience is inevitable.
But, that documentary still hasn’t been made, so let’s stick to those that exist.
Louis Theroux: Gambling in Las Vegas
If you’ve ever had any sort of fleeting interest in the genre, you’ve come across Mr. Theroux’s name, or in the least, you recognize his face. This British documentarian is a genre staple and has been creating them for over twenty years. In this one, made for BBC Two, he visits Sin City and spends time with high-rollers and casino employees, trying to get a feel for the industry and the gamblers that fill casino floors.
Holy Rollers
This is the story of the largest card-counting blackjack team in the US, one that was made up entirely of churchgoing Christians. The group was comprised of forty players and thirty investors and it operated for six years, starting from 2005 and emptied casino vaults till 2011. They won over $3 million in that time while playing with $1.2 million of the investors’ money.
All In: The Poker Movie
This 2009 film is a look behind the curtain of the world of poker. It has three major focal points, the game itself, the story of Chris Moneymaker, a causal player from Tennessee who won the World Series of Poker, and the third is an inside look at “Black Friday”. The latter refers to the time when due to legalities the world’s biggest pokers sites shut down and were seized by the Department of Justice.
The Legend of Jimmy the Greek
Stepping aside from table games, we dive into the world of sports betting with ESPN’s film series – 30 for 30, one that centers around the notorious Jimmy Snyder, or famously known as Jimmy the Greek. Snyder was a sports commentator and Las Vegas bookmaker who predicted NFL games and rose to the status of a minor celebrity.
Garon Cockrell is the Founder and Editor of Pop Culture Beast and host of The Pop Culture Beast Show. He founded the site over seven years ago to have a place on the internet to write about the things he loved. Since then, Garon has become a best-selling author (Demonic and Other Tales), an award winning screenwriter (Best Screenplay 2013 Motor City Nightmares Film Festival), and a cast member on the top rated podcast, Never Not Funny.