The 5 Best Movies About Betting

Here at MarkMeets, we’re all about entertainment. Something that we haven’t covered much is the blending of two forms of entertainment: film and betting. Gambling on the outcome of events is a pastime as old as time itself … or at least as old as economy. And movies have been a favorite pastime since Roundhay Garden Scene. But movies about betting? Now we are double-dipping on entertainment! 

So what are five of the best movies related to betting?

Let’s deep dive into a few movies about betting that are cinematic masterpieces. 

Snatch | Bareknuckle Boxing

Snatch, stylized as snatch, is a crime comedy that stretches from New York City to London and follows various groups of criminal morons. The film is based around everyone trying to get their hands on a massive, fist-sized diamond … which a Staffordshire terrier eats … But there is a significant side plot involving a nomadic Irish (Pikey) bare-knuckle boxer played by Brad Pitt. A budding fight promoter is sucked into match-fixing by a ruthless gangster who disposes of his enemies by feeding their bodies to his pigs. 

Things go wrong on multiple fronts. It goes sideways for the main protagonists when Micky O’Neil, Brad Pitt’s character, nocks out Gorgeous Gorge, a bare-knuckle fighter who is supposed to fight in an upcoming match. The film digresses into mayhem and reinforces the fact that you should steer clear of all shady, back-alley betting operations, and just learn how to bet, and the different types of bets, understand the odds and learn how to calculate payouts… Otherwise, you might end up stuck in a quagmire, caught between warring parties, and end up as pig food. 

“They will go through bone like butter. You need at least sixteen pigs to finish the job in one sitting, so be wary of any man who keeps a pig farm. They will go through a body that weighs 200 pounds in about eight minutes. That means that a single pig can consume two pounds of uncooked flesh every minute. Hence the expression, “as greedy as a pig.” – Brick Top.

Casino | Handicapping and Casino Operation

Even if you are not a fan of Martin Scorsese, you’d have a tough time proving a thesis statement that his films are bad. His 1995 epic, Casino, was an instant mob-movie classic which centers quite obviously around a Casino, but it’s double-deep in the gambling theme because the Casino owners (Teamsters) hire Ace Rothstein, arguably the best sports handicapper of the time, to run the Tangiers casino in Las Vegas. IMBd bills it as, “A tale of greed, deception, money, power, and murder occur between two best friends: a mafia enforcer and a casino executive, compete against each other over a gambling empire, and over a fast living and fast loving socialite.

White Men Can’t Jump | Street Ball

Most filmgoers might not immediately associate this film with betting or as a ‘gambling movie.’ They think, a comic tale of hard-knocks. That said, it is a gambling movie—the plot centers around two LA street ballers who hustle the basketball courts and start earning big bucks. But my favorite thing about this movie is it’s loaded with social nuances. Things like, don’t judge a book by its cover, and financial struggle and hardship isn’t mutually exclusive to race. 

Nowadays, people are so sensitive and triggered by everything that I seriously doubt that Spike Lee could title a movie, White Men Can’t Jump, or for that matter, any race can’t do anything. Still, this is a hidden gem of a film that centers around betting, unlikely friends, and betrayal. 

The Gambler | Table Games

This remake of the 1970s flick of the same title is self-admittedly a loose autobiography. It highlights the highs and lows of a lit professor, Jim Bennet, who is addicted to gambling. James Tobak, the original primary screen play writer, admits that the film is based on his life experiences. It’s a great movie, especially the original, but self-destructive characters can be hard to watch. And this picture is definitely nihilistic, with the protagonist perpetually sabotaging himself.

Rounders | Poker

This 90s flick came out just before the massive poker boom of the early 2000s. Rumors still abound that this movie is based on the pre-famous life of comedian, actor, and avid poker player, Norm Macdonald. This one stars Matt Damon and Edward Norton. The latter of which draws his reformed poker player friend back to hustle high-stakes underground poker rooms. Rounders was well received, but it really blew up a few years later and because a cult classic as Poker hit the mainstream.