Gambling scenes in movies are a great way to add some tension to a movie. Movies about gamblers are almost all about tension! Some of the movies on this list are great gambling movies, others are movies with one great gambling scene. Either way, if you need your fix to see some bets get laid on the table, this is the list for you.
The Sting
One of the best gambling movies ever is, without question, the 1973 caper film, The Sting. Obviously, the whole plot involves betting and gambling, or, at least, cheating to win big. There are a bunch of great scenes that would fit on this list, but for my money, the card game on the train in which Robert Shaw's character is out-cheated by Paul Newman's character is the best. It's such a fun scene.
21
The MIT Blackjack Team became the stuff of legends when it operated for decades starting in the 1980s, for the amount of money it took off casinos. 21, starring Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, and Kevin Spacey, was inspired by the team and told a fictionalized version of the team's story. The movie keeps the pace high while still managing to explain the rather mundane realities of blackjack card counting,
Ocean's Eleven
There may be no better movie about Las Vegas than Ocean's Eleven. The 2001 remake starring an incredible ensemble cast led by Brad Pitt and George Clooney is based on an early movie of the same starring The Rat Pack. Both are a ton of fun, but for my money, the remake is a far superior movie.
Casino
It's right there in the name! Of course, Martin Scorsese's Casino is going to be on this list. It's not like most gambling movies in that it's told from the perspective of the casino, rather than the gamblers in the casino, but there are some great gambling scenes, like the one with the two cheaters who are caught and roughed up in the backroom, like it supposedly was back in the day in Las Vegas.
Rounders
Rounders has been hailed as the best poker movie of all time by a number of critics and pro poker players. Though the final showdown between Matt Damon's character and John Malkovich's gets a little silly, there is the obvious "tell" that Malkovich has, and let's be honest, it's a pretty bad accent from Malkovich as well. Still, the movie is harrowing and intense, like a great gambling movie should be.
Hard Eight
Paul Thomas Anderson's debut film, Hard Eight, definitely lets audiences in on the darker side of gambling and addiction. If I'm honest, it's not my favorite Anderson movie, but it's a remarkable debut and holds up really well, decades after it was released in 1998.
The Gambler (1974)
Not to be confused with the series of made-for-TV movies based on a song by Kenny Rogers, 1974's The Gambler stars James Caan as a college professor who is locked in a serious gambling addiction. It's a gritty movie that doesn't have many light moments as Caan's character gets deeper and deeper into debt, riding the huge highs and harrowing lows of sports betting.
Casino Royale
So, there are any number of James Bond movies that I could have put on this list. Almost all of them have gambling scenes. We're even first introduced to the 007 character in the first movie, Dr. No, as he sits down at a baccarat table. And even though Casino Royale's poker scene is kind of ridiculous in how unrealistic the high-stakes poker game is, this one still felt like the one to include to represent all the Bond films.
Uncut Gems
If you ever need to be reminded just how addicting and harrowing sports betting can be, watch Uncut Gems again. In what I would consider Adam Sandler's best role by far, the comedian plays a straight role with incredible pathos as we watch him fall apart under the weight of addiction and debt. It's a masterpiece.
The Hangover
Any movie that includes a trip to Las Vegas is probably going to include a great gambling scene or two, and in The Hangover, that scene is when Zach Galifianakis hits the blackjack table to count cards and make a ton of money. It's one of the most memorable scenes in a movie all about the things the main characters forgot.
The Hustler
There haven't been a lot of movies about pool hustling made, and that might be because the granddaddy of them all, The Hustler, starring Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason, is so darn good. It has all the elements of a great gambling movie, like a young hotshot who gets in way too deep and has to find his way out of growing debt, and to do that must take on the best player in the world. It's a classic for a reason.
The Flamingo Kid
The Flamingo Kid is an underrated and oft-forgotten rom-com from the 1980s. The movie stars Matt Dillon as a kid who gets a gig working at an upscale beach club and is soon playing gin rummy for a penny a point with some of the members. Though the gambling stakes aren't exactly through the roof in this one, it still leads to some intense and fun moments.
Goodfellas
To be fair, the poker scenes in Goodfellas are less about the card games themselves and more about Joe Pesci's character's violent tendencies. If you've forgotten, remember that the first game results in Spider (Michael Imperioli) getting maimed in the leg, and the second ends in his death. Talk about high stakes!
Rain Man
Long before card counting entered mainstream consciousness, Rain Man has one of the most memorable scenes of all time when Tom Cruise's character teaches his autistic brother, played by Dustin Hoffman in an Oscar-winning turn, how to count cards at the blackjack table. Though it's obviously not a movie about gambling, there is no way I could leave it off this list.
Honeymoon In Vegas
Though not everyone will agree, I will always go to bat for Honeymoon In Vegas, being one of Nicolas Cage's best movies. Not only does Cage kill it as a hapless amateur gambler that James Caan takes advantage of, but the whole thing is just hilarious. The poker scene even includes a great cameo by former UNLV basketball coaching legend Jerry Tarkanian. It doesn't get more "Vegas" than that.
Molly's Game
Molly's Game is based on the true story of Molly Bloom, played by Jessica Chastain. Bloom ran a legendary underground poker game in LA for years before she was taken down by the FBI. The movie features one of the best poker scenes in film history. Though it wasn't as big a hit as it should have been, it's well worth seeking out if you've never seen it.
Cool Hand Luke
Sure, Cool Hand Luke is really a prison movie rather than a gambling movie, but there was no way I could leave it off this list for the legendary egg-eating bet in the film. And it's not just the egg scene that earns it a spot on this list, the title of the movie comes from a line Paul Newman delivers after winning a hand of poker: "Yeah, well... sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand."
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Austin Powers (Mike Myers) is a man who likes to live dangerously, like staying on 5 in a game of blackjack. The James Bond spoof, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, had to include a ridiculous gambling scene, and it pulls it off perfectly with the most ridiculous hand of blackjack ever.
Vegas Vacation
Vegas Vacation is the weakest entry in the Vacation franchise, in my opinion, but I have to admit I think the subplot of Clark (Chevy Chase) going deeper and deeper into gambling addiction does make me laugh a lot. His back and forth with a card dealer played by Wallace Shawn results in some of the funniest moments in this disappointing movie.
The Parent Trap
Even classic kids movies like 1998's The Parent Trap starring Lindsey Lohan can have fun gambling scenes. Here, in a game of 5-card draw poker, Lohan's characters play each other as enemies, but it's this game that eventually leads to their friendship and all the hijinks that follow. The poker scene also has a fun needle drop with George Thorogood's "Bad To Bone" accompanying the game.
The Color Of Money
Director Martin Scorsese's The Color of Money is what we would call today a "legacyquel." It's almost-but-not-quote a sequel to The Hustler as Paul Newman returns as "Fast" Eddie Felson to teach the next generation (Tom Cruise's character) how to be a great pool gambler, two and a half decades after the first movie. Let's just say it takes a while for the lessons to sink in.
John Wick: Chapter 4
In John Wick: Chapter 4, we find our anti-hero John Wick (Keanu Reeves) playing poker for his life against a villain who has more tricks up his sleeve than a magician in Vegas. Of course, the game, one hand of 5-card draw, ends with Reeves holding the so-called "dead man's hand (a pair of aces and a pair of eights), but that doesn't matter as Wick shows how deadly a playing card can be.
Tombstone
Not only is Tombstone the most quotable Western ever (and one of the best Westerns overall), it also has some fantastic gambling scenes. Cards, specifically poker and faro, are what the old west preferred, and we get both in Tombstone. Plus all that great banter.
The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs
The famous "dead man's hand," so named because it was supposedly the hand Wild Bill Hickok was holding when he was shot dead in Deadwood, plays a big role in one scene in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, which you can watch with a Netflix subscription. The titular Buster (Tim Blake Nelson) sits down at a poker game mid-hand, and while the game doesn't get very far, any movie with a famous poker hand in it should be included here.
Easy Money
One of the more ridiculous horse racing scenes in 1980s cinema comes in the Rodney Dangerfield classic Easy Money. This isn't Dangerfield's best movie, but for a guy famous for one-liners like Dangerfield, there are plenty here as he plays a degerate in almost every way, including as a gambler.
Eight Men Out
Eight Men Out's gambling scenes are a little different than most of the movies on this list. There are no casinos or underground card games, just shady characters concocting a scheme to rig the 1919 World Series by paying off players of the Chicago White Sox. Of course, it's based on a true story, one of the most famous stories of gambling in American history, so it has to be included in this list.
The Cooler
A "cooler" in gambling terms is a gambler who is so unlucky that he is considered poison to be in any game by other hardcore gamblers. William H. Macy plays this role in The Cooler, where he is such bad luck that he is employed by a casino to step into games where players are winning a lot. Things start to reverse themselves when Macy's character meets a woman and starts falling in love. Can a cooler whose luck seems to have turned around make it in life? You'll have to watch to see how it turns out!
Maverick
While Maverick is a silly movie with a great cast, the poker scenes are actually pretty realistic. The movie, which was a decent hit when it came out in 1994 based on the strength of its charming cast, led by Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, and James Garner reprising his role as Bret Maverick, Sr, from a TV show he starred in in the 1960s, is a pretty underrated gambling movie.
Lucky You
2007's Lucky You was Hollywood's attempt to cash in on the poker craze that swept the nation in the '00s. Based on its dismal box office returns, it failed to capture the attention of the public like the world it was trying to portray. It's not a terrible movie if you like poker, but it is a little dull, especially compared to many of the other movies on this list.
A Bronx Tale
While A Bronx Tale, directed by Robert De Niro, wasn't a huge hit when it came out, it has a fantastic legacy in the years since. The movie, starring Chazz Palminteri, has a great scene of a basement craps game where Palminteri's character teaches his protege how to play dice.
The Cincinnati Kid
Steve McQueen's The Cincinnati Kid is a classic gambling movie about a poker player in the 1930s. It's one of the earliest movies to show poker in a more or less modern take, and it remains as fun today as it was seven decades ago.
Two For The Money
I'll fully admit that Matthew McConaughey's Two For The Money is not exactly my favorite movie on this list; however, it does do a great job of showing the highs and lows of sports gambling, which in my mind is the most nefarious of all betting.
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