In the age of online gambling, a traditional roulette or blackjack table can rightfully feel exotic to anyone. This is especially true in 2020, when casinos are either closed or a mere shadows of their former selves. Today, the JackpotCity online casino offers its players a complete Las Vegas gambling experience complete with table games, slot machines, various card games, and even real-life dealers who handle the cards and spin the roulette wheel remotely, through video streaming. All this without the need for a mask or social distancing, just one tap away. The big win is often part of movies and TV episodes as a side story - sometimes, in turn, it’s a big loss that sets the wheels in motion. Today, let’s take a look at some of the most important gambling losses that serve as a trigger for an entire story.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Guy Ritchie has become a household name in Hollywood thanks to his unique take on even the most familiar stories. While some of his movies are pretty controversial - his take on the Arthurian legends in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword was frowned upon by many - his older works became instant cult classics. 1998’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, his feature film debut, is no exception. Four small-time criminal friends - Eddie, Tom, Soap, and Bacon (played by Nick Moran, Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, and later action hero Jason Statham, also at his movie debut) - put together £100,000 so that Eddie, a master at the card table, can join a high-stakes game of three-card brag hosted by "Hatchet" Harry Lonsdale. Eddie’s skill with the cards proves to be insufficient - he loses the money in the rigged game, and ends up massively indebted to “Hatchet” who got his name for his habit of chopping up his debtors. With a hatchet, of course. The four friends come up with a plan to pay up and save their lives - as you might expect, things don’t exactly go as planned.
Indecent Proposal (1993)
Adrian Lyne’s Indecent Proposal, based on Jack Engelhard’s novel of the same name, wasn’t a critical success - but it did do great at the box office, making more than $250 million against a budget of just $38 million. Indecent Proposal tells the story of David and Diana Murphy (Demo Moore and Woody Harrelson) who encounter financial hardship while working to realize their dream. In a desperate move, the two take their life savings to a casino hoping to raise $50,000. There, Diana catches the eye of billionaire John Gage (Robert Redford) and after the couple loses everything at the roulette table, he offers her $1 million to spend a night with him. A tale of romance, jealousy, and resentment follows that ends with a proverbial slap in the face - but on the receiving end, it’s not who you’d expect.
The Gambler (2014)
Rupert Wyatt’s “The Gambler” didn’t win any major awards but was a “decent” movie inspired by the 1974 classic starring James Caan. And it shows how dangerous gambling debt can be. Jim Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) is a literature professor with a passion for gambling who doesn’t know when to stop. When he loses the money he borrowed from a loan shark, he is promised a trip six feet under if he doesn’t pay up. He still doesn’t stop: he bribes one of his students, a successful college basketball player, to point-shave so he can win one final bet and pay off his debt.
Lost in America (1985)
Albert Brooks’ “Lost in America” is a satirical take on the dangers of gambling. It tells the story of a young couple who are fed up with their yuppie California lifestyle - they sell everything they own, leave their jobs, buy an RV, and set out on a trip across America. Early in their travels, they make a quick stop at Las Vegas. There, the wife, curious about gambling, sits down to a roulette table with her bag full of cash - and gets up minutes later as poor as a church mouse, having no choice but to start over without the burden of money.