High Stakes & Hollywood: The Best Casino Movies
If You Love Casinos, These Movies Will Feel Like Free Drinks and a Hot Streak
Vegas, Baby!
I live in Las Vegas, so maybe I’m biased, but there’s nothing quite like a casino at full tilt. The energy, the desperation, the guy next to you who swears he never loses at blackjack—it’s all part of the magic. And if a movie doesn’t capture that? I don’t want it. Lucky for you, these five absolutely nail it.
Casino (1995)
If you love Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, and old Vegas, Casino is a must-watchl. It’s got it all: violence, betrayal, Joe Pesci being terrifying, and Sharon Stone making you rethink every toxic relationship you’ve ever had. De Niro playing Ace Rothstein, a guy who can run a casino with military precision but somehow has zero control over his personal life? We love to see it.
Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s Casino, 1995 pic.twitter.com/lCILNARTLl
— Scorsese Universe (@scorsesepoint) November 24, 2024
Rounders (1998)
If you’ve ever convinced yourself you could go pro in poker, Rounders will either fuel that delusion or crush it completely. The Rounders cast—Matt Damon, Edward Norton, and John Malkovich (with that ridiculous Russian accent)—bring the underground card scene to life.
Fun fact: Damon made casino news headlines at the time for getting so into poker while filming that he actually entered the 1998 World Series of Poker. Method acting or gambling problem? Hard to say.
Matt Damon and Edward Norton on the set of “Rounders”, January 1998. pic.twitter.com/lwd2fKoV6i
— best of matt damon (@damonlibrary) October 5, 2024
Ocean’s 13 (2007)
The most unrealistic part of this movie isn’t the casino heist—it’s that George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon would ever need to commit crimes to afford their lifestyles. But who cares? It’s fun, flashy, and full of ridiculous schemes, including one where they use a giant tunnel-boring machine to create fake earthquakes inside a Vegas casino. Were the tunnels as terrifying back then as they are now? No idea. But I wouldn’t go underground to find out.
Ocean’s Thirteen. 2007. Steven Soderbergh. pic.twitter.com/NIQn47S1yV
— Will (@SilentDawnLB) January 4, 2022
21 (2008)
21 is what happens when you take the real-life MIT Blackjack Team story, oversimplify the math, add some Hollywood flair, and pretend counting cards is easy. Spoiler: it’s not. But if you’ve ever dabbled in an online casino and thought, maybe I could make this a career, this movie will have you feeling way too confident in the best way possible.
Croupier (1998)
This one’s different—it’s not about the gamblers, but the people running the show. Clive Owen plays a struggling writer (felt) who takes a job as a croupier and ends up more addicted to the casino lifestyle than he’d like to admit. It’s sleek, moody, and proof that whether you’re dealing cards or placing bets, the casino always gets under your skin.
That’s the list. Now go take a chance—but don’t go counting cards or conspiring a heist. Some relaxing online casino bets with Rounders playing in the background should do just fine.
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