5 of the Most Iconic British Gambling Movies
Despite a plethora of big-budget films from Hollywood, UK directors have been behind some of the most iconic gambling and online casino no deposit films.
Dominance vs Culture
Movies from major Hollywood studios dominate the entertainment industry due to their quality and elevated levels of entertainment. Their big production budgets allow entertainment visionaries like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas to re-create their imaginations so fans around the world can see and experience the action as they envisage it. However, UK films can match, perhaps even outdo them on at least one front and that is movies where gambling forms a key component of the storyline.
Yes, Las Vegas provides a dollop of authenticity to numerous gambling scenes in Hollywood movies, but historically speaking gambling has formed an intrinsic part of British culture for centuries. As a result, UK films seem to deliver their gambling-related storylines with a more gritty, realistic feel due to a better understanding of the lifestyle and atmosphere that surrounds gambling culture. Over the years this inherent understanding saw movie fans blessed by a number of outstanding films like Snatch, Croupier, Revolver, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, as well as Casino Royale where gambling forms an inherent part of a quite realistic storyline.
Casino Royale
In the 2006 reboot of Casino Royale with Daniel Craig as a very intense James Bond, we see the inimitable British superspy taking on the notorious weapons dealer Le Chiffre in a game of high stakes poker. Somehow Bond’s glib tongue convinces his superiors to use tax revenue to sponsor his colossal $10 million buy-in. They square off in a No limit Texas Hold’em poker match which allows 007 to get a better read on Le Chiffre. Tension runs high as the stakes continue to increase, in a scene saturated with all the details that makes this game so appealing to all who have ever played it.
Learn more about the match in a short analysis of the Casino Royale poker scene. It may convince you to take up poker and the most convenient way to do so is at one of the UK’s top online casinos.
Starting your online casino adventure could be relatively inexpensive if you choose a casino and welcome bonus package that suits you best. A good newcomer bonus will allow you to make a more accurate assessment of the casino and its gaming variety for free before you have even made a first deposit. This means you can evaluate several casinos and enjoy their games at no cost to yourself.
Online Casino Bonuses
The best way to start your search for the right UK online casinos is with a no deposit bonus which means you don’t have to risk any of your own money for a chance to play slots and table games that are available for the UK gamblers. These casino offers are usually provided welcome or signup bonuses for new players to test things out, though it’s possible to win free cash and keep it all.
Finding the Best No Deposit Bonuses
Signing up with the leading online casinos in the UK will allow you to claim real money no deposit bonuses that offer you a genuine chance to win while taking a look at the latest video slots, as well as more classic games like roulette and blackjack.. The UK’s foremost online casino brands also provide access to high-quality poker rooms that forms part of the world’s most popular and busiest poker networks.
Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
The dark comedy Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels marks Guy Ritchie’s directorial debut for a full-length feature film. Its massive success catapulted him and lead actor Jason Statham to stardom. The movie offers a delightfully humorous insight into London’s seedy underbelly, replete with mob bosses, scheming grifters, their streetwise cohorts, and a bunch of comically dim-witted robbers.
Its fast-moving and endlessly twisting plot revolves around a sharp-witted card man heavily invested in a unique high-stakes card game where he is up against a well-monied porn baron. At first, the outcome seems a sure thing, but his plan quickly goes awry which leaves him with a massive cash stake to front and little time to generate the necessary coin.
Snatch
In 2000, Guy Ritchie followed the success of Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels up with Snatch, his second foray into the UK’s gambling scene. Many years since people still consider Snatch as Ritchie’s best work. Gambling permeates the film’s storyline with pikeys, dangerous bookmakers, bent boxing promoters and Russian mobsters being the main characters driving its convoluted plot.
Snatch’s plot delivers a fast-paced, confusing, dark comedy where the scenes vary from wildly hilarious to fairly gruesome at times. Centred around a missing diamond it follows a brief period that forever changed the lives of several characters involved in London’s petty crime scene. Several working crews compete to find the stolen gem, their various hunts provide a whole bunch of twisting, turning subplots. The storyline mainly follows the erratic antics and fights of crazy Irish boxer Mickey (Brad Pitt) along his path of revenge and restitution for wrongdoings and perceived wrongdoings against him and his family.
Revolver
Revolver is the third deliverance of Guy Ritchie’s grand trio of directorial creations centered around the UK’s gambling scene and its criminal sub-culture. Not considered on the same level as Guy Ritchie’s previous two works of art, the 2007 film features Jason Statham for the third time. In this installment he portrays the lead character, Jake Green, freshly released from serving a 7-year prison stint.
Jake, a card-man and big-time gambler, is hell-bent on avenging his incarceration for a crime he did not commit. In a private casino match, Jake faces down arch-nemesis and crime boss Dorothy Macha (Ray Liotta). He wins the game resulting in humiliation for Macha which turns out to have dramatic results with Macha putting out a hit on Jake.
Croupier
Croupier introduces audiences to a brooding Clive Owen as Jack Manfred, a struggling writer forced by personal finances to become a croupier at a high-end casino. Jack never engages in gambling, donning a neutral expression he simply observes the players and firmly adheres to a refined code of conduct. In due course the plot thickens becoming fast paced and convoluted enough to leave audiences spellbound to the end.
Centred around the croupiers at the casino and their intricate, illicit relationships with casino customers, the plot naturally sees foul play involved. The question is will Jack resist getting involved by rejecting a hard to refuse deal made by one of the high-rollers and will he survive if he does?
Celluloid Fantasy vs Reality
If any of the movies discussed above have cast any doubt over the fairness and honesty of legally licensed gambling establishments in the UK, then fear not because the legal measures taken to protect players is quite impressive to say the least. Aside from being published in detail by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission reputable publications such as the BBC also provides extensive coverage of new legal controls such as online gambling checks to be strengthened.