The best casino movies and films shot in Las Vegas
Casinos, Gambling and Las Vegas are a big inspiration source for movies. There are hundreds of movies based on Las Vegas and there are even more films shot in Las Vegas. Everybody in the world knows Las Vegas and almost everybody in the world visited a casino at least once. On this page we collected the best casino movies and the best films shot in Las Vegas.
Everybody knows Las Vegas but the majority of people never went to the gambling capital of the world. Luckily there are hundreds of movies shot in Las Vegas. When you are watching a movie about Las Vegas you get a good insight in the things that happen over there. Believe me when I say “Almost everything you see in Las vegas movies really happens in Las Vegas”. Except the shooting and killing of course.
Have you visit Las vegas recently or are you planning a trip to the gambling capital? In that case I recommend you to watch the movies listed on this page.
Best Casino movies ever! – Our Top 3
Lets start with an overview of our best casino movies. A movie is a casino movie when the main subject is gambling or when the majority of the movie is shot in a casino. The movies on this page are chosen by the BestBettingCasinos.com team.
1. Runner Runner (2013)
Runner Runner is directed by Brad Furman in 2013 and it is an American crime film. Justin Timberlake, Gemma Arterton and Ben Affleck are the main actors in this gambling related movie. Runner Runner is my absolute number 1 movie in this list because it features all sides of gambling. The movie is about a professional poker player who used statistical methods to uncover cheating. The poker player (Justin Timberlake) got help from an accountant and they analyzed over thousand games.
Richie Furst is a smart kid that earns money on Wall Street. When he wants to get his master at Princeton he doesn’t receive assistance from the school to fund his master’s degrees. But Richie is a smart kid and he earns money by referring students to different poker websites and online casinos. He receives a cut of the share from the casinos. Richie tries to earn more money with his poker skills. He plays poker at online casinos. And he plays cash games against other online players. At one moment Richie loses all his money to a cheater. With statistics the smart kid can proof that he lost his money to a cheater.
Ivan block is the owner of the casino website where Richie lost all his money to a cheater. Richie decided to travel to Costa Rica and confront Ivan with the leak in his software. Ivan has to admit there is something wrong in the software. And he fires all his tech employees. He hires Richie and pays him millions to stay in Costa Rica.
From the moment Richie starts working things go wrong. Richie is now in the middle of illegal gambling, money laundry, romances and conflicts between dangerous people. He gets in love with an ex-lover of Ivan and he ends up helping a FBI agent.
Runner Runner is a must see when you like casino or gambling movies with a lot of action.
2. Casino (1995)
Casino is a must see for every movie and casino lover. Casino is in all lists with the best casino movies ever made. Casino is shot in 1995 in Las Vegas. And the main characters are Sam “Ace” Rothstein (Robert de Niro, Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone) and Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci).
Sam Rothstein earned a lot of money as a maffia boss. Now he wants to earn more money and he moves to Las Vegas. His old partners think Sam is the right person to earn a lot of money in Vegas. His former maffia partners are the owners of Tangiers Casino and they give Sam the lead in this casino.
Sam is a smart guy and he knows a lot about gambling. The owners of the casino decide to sent Nicky Santoro to the casino. Nicky needs to keep an eye on Sam and the casino. He has to protect Sam from criminals. When Sam meets Ginger, a beautiful woman, things go wrong. Sam falls in love and Ginger falls in love with Sam’s money.
Things go wrong in the casino when the revenues are decreasing. And when Nicky gets involved in a lot of other dangerous stuff. nicky gets on the radar of the FBI and that is bad news for Sam and his casino. After a while Sam is removed from his casino and the end is near for Sam.
After that Nicky and Sam get in to a fight because Nicky sleeps with Ginger. Both guys want each other death but in the end they are all caught by the FBI.
If you like action in combination with Italian style maffia, I recommend you to watch this movie.
3. Rain Man (1988)
Rain Man is a real classic movie. The film is shot in 1988 and is still broadcasted on TV in many countries every year. The 2 main characters in the movie are Raymond (Dustin Hoffman) and Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise).
When Charlie’s dad dies he hears that the majority of his money go’s to his autistic brother Raymond. A brother he never heard of. The role of Raymond is based on Kim Peek and Leslie Lemke. Both Kim and Leslie both have savant syndrome. Charlie only receives a 1949 Buick Roadmaster from his dad and the $3 million estate goes to Raymond. Raymond is autistic but he has a super brain and a superb recall. He doesn’t show a lot of emotion only when he is in distress.
Charlie decided to spend more time with his brother in order to get control over the $3 million. During a road trip from Los Angeles Charlie learns more and more about his brother. And more about the things his brother is capable of. After a while Charlie notices that Raymond is a mental calculator. He can count hundreds of objects within a few seconds. During the trip he also learns that his former imaginary friend Rain Man actually is Raymond.
In Las vegas they couple won money at Blackjack because Raymond was counting cards. Charlie decides to fly back to Las Vegas because he has a financial hole of $80.000 after selling Lamborghinis. He uses Raymond to count cards and win money. Casino bosses are skeptical because they think it is impossible to count cards from 6 decks of cards. But after a while, and after watching security movies, the casino hosts decide to remove Charlie and Raymond from the casino. All the winnings cover the financial problems of Charlie and in the end Charlie decides to adapt Raymond as his brother.
This movie is a fun movie related to gambling and counting cards. A movie you can watch with the family on a rainy night.
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Best films shot in Las Vegas
There are hundreds of movies shot in Las Vegas. Not all of them are gambling related but most of them are. There are also films related to partying, weddings and loads of alcohol. Now it is time to tell you more about our list with best casino movies shot in Las Vegas. Below the short summary we added a trailer of every movie.
1. The Hangover (2009)
My absolute number one is The Hangover. This movie is about a guy “Doug” who gets married. But before he gets married his friends Phil and Stu take him out for a bachelor party in Las Vegas. Doug’s brother in law Alan also joins the group. Alan is a bit of a strange guy. The bachelor party contains a baby, a wedding, Mike Tyson, A tiger in the shower and some fighting. After a crazy night they don’t remember anything. But they also lost Doug.
A crazy search for Doug starts. Every hour they are starting to remind more and more from the night before. The movie has a lot of humor and fun stuff and amazing jokes. Every scene there is a new twist in the story.
At the end of the movie they guys find Doug on top of their hotel. A super funny film. A must see if you ask me
2. Showgirls (1995)
This American erotic movie is directed by Paul Verhoeven. The movie is actually nominated for worst movie in 1996. But in my opinion it is a good movie about Las Vegas. The movie Showgirls is about a girl “Nomi Malone” who wants to be a star as a dancer in big shows in Las Vegas. During her search for success she gets involved in a crazy world of sex, drugs and lies.
Nomi meets Cristal Connors. Cristal wants to help Nomi and introduces her to the topless dance scene in Las Vegas. A lot of shit happens and in the end she becomes a star in the topless dance scene in Vegas. She gets in love with a guy. And she gets a chance to play a role in a few big dance shows.
This movie is fun to watch when you are a guy because there is a lot of topless dancing in the movie.
3. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is shot in 1998 in Las Vegas. The main characters are Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp), Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro), Lifter (Tobey Maguire) and Ellen Barkin. Cameron Diaz also has a small role in this movie as a TV Reporter.
Journalist Raoul Duke and his lawyer Dr. Gonzo have to visit Las Vegas because they have to watch a motor race. Raoul has to write a story about the motor race. But it doesn’t work out as he wants it to work out because he and his lawyer get involved in strange stuff when they are in Vegas. During the movie they travel in a red Convertible. A car that is fully packed with alcohol and drugs.
The 2 get involved in the strangest things because of the drugs. A normal trip changes in something totally different. Every scene the twist of the movie changes. Fear and Loathing in Las vegas is one of the best classic Las Vegas movies I have ever seen.
The movie won a Golden Palm at the Movie Festival in Cannes.
Why are casino movies so popular?
As mentioned before, there are hundreds of movies related to gambling and casinos. But why are there so many movies related to casinos and gambling?
This is easy to explain. Gambling is something interesting. People love to watch success stories and stories where things go totally wrong. We love to watch people win a lot of money. And at casinos there are always nice girls and beautiful men involved. People that watch casino movies like to dream. They dream they are the main character. The character that wins a lot of money or the person that can count cards.
Casino tv show Tip! Las Vegas (the tv show)
There is also a TV show about Las Vegas. The TV show is called “Las Vegas”. The show is about the management, security team and restaurant employees of the Montecito Casino. The Montecito is a hotel and casino in Las Vegas. The management team and the security team keep a close eye on players at the casino. Every episode things happen in the Montecito Casino. The main characters are Ed Deline (James Caan) owner of the casino, Danny McCoy (Josh Duhamel) he is the head of the casino, Sam Marquez (Vanessa Marcil) she is the host of the VIP players at the Montecito and Delinda deline (Molly Sims) she is the daughter of Ed deline and host at the restaurant.
Las Vegas gives you a great insight at how things work at casinos in Vegas. You can have a look at the security of the casino. And you can see how casino hosts thread the big players “Whales”.
Best Casino movies according to other review websites
Of course we have our own opinion about the quality of movies. On the internet you also find websites like IMDB. When we have a quick look on other review websites like IMDB we find a list with the best casino movies ever made. The list is based on the opinion of the visitors of the review websites. The list is based on 155.000 different votes. In the overview I give you the title of the movie, the year of release, genre and the main actors
- The Cooler (2003) – Drama, Romance – Alec Baldwin, Maria Bello and William H.
- Rounders (1998) – Crime, Drama – Matt Damo, Edward Norton and John Malkovich
- Casino (1995) – Crime, Drama – Sharon Stone, Robert De niro, Joe Pesci
- Revolver (2005) – Action, Drama – Jason Statham, Andre Benjamin
- Croupier (1998) – Drama, Crime – Clive Owen, Nicholas Ball
- Leaving Las Vegas (1995) – Romance, Drama – Nicolas Cage, Julian Sands, Richard Lewis
- Swingers (1996) – Drama, Comedy – Heather Graham, Vince Vaughn
- Sydney (1996) – Crime, Drama – Philip Baker, Gwyneth Paltrow
- Casino Jack (2010) – Biography, Crime, Comedy – Kevin Spacey, Jon Lovitz
- Bugsy (1991) – Crime, Biography – Warren Beatty, Harvey Keitel
*Source: IMDB list of top 10 casino movies
List of movies shot in Las Vegas
I only mentioned a few of the many movies shot in Las Vegas. There are over hundred movies shot in Las vegas. With the help of Wikipedia and IMDB we made a selection of the best movies shot in Las Vegas. The list is based on 140.000+ votes of visitors of IMDB. The first movie ever shot in Las Vegas was Heldorado (1946). And popular films like The Godfather, Ocean’s 11 and Rocky III are also shot in Las Vegas. I am not going to show you the full list because you can simply find the list on Wikipedia.
I will only show the 10 favorite movies of the BestBettingCasinos.com team:
- The Hangover
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
- 21
- Owning Mahowny
- Rain Man
- Rocky
- Casino
- The Casino job
- What happens in Vegas
- Rat Race
