It might be hard to recreate the essential casino experience. The one where you step in to a converted chateaux with high ceilings, chandeliers, plush carpet and expensive porcelain. The sound of the roulette table, gasps of excitement and the steady clicking of the reels on some nearby slots. It’s what you’d expect from a Bond movie or maybe a more heady version with music, lights and alcohol in Las Vegas taken straight from the film The Hangover.
Source: Pixabay
Obviously the casino scenes we see in movies are very different to the ones experienced in real life. The spare seat at the table, the gathering crowd, the big wins, the lucky lady and the obligatory Texan with the cowboy hat are Hollywood staples of the casino movie genre.
Whatever the image you’ve conjured, the reality is very different. The casino experience is changing, people are more likely to visit a live casino online rather than buying an airline ticket to Vegas. Casino games developer NetEnt also saw the gap between online and land based casinos and bridged it, launching a live casino using live video streams and real life dealers. It allowed anyone to authenticate a casino experience with live Blackjack, Roulette and Baccarat, on real tables, spun by real dealers and played anonymously, from any location.
It makes you think whether Mads Mikkelson’s Casino Royale banker/villain Le Chiffre with his busy day job, even has time to visit a casino in Montenegro for a one off poker game? With the kind of access to money and VPNs, he’s more like to get online with a VR headset and play a live version instead, remaining anonymous and untouchable. While the scene would have played out somewhat differently, it might well be the more authentic casino experience.
Source: Pixabay
More often when a casino is featured in a film, it means Las Vegas. We’re talking Rain Man, Oceans Eleven, Leaving Las Vegas, Indecent Proposal, Casino, Fear and Loathing and Diamonds are Forever. And while card counting film 21 could well be replicated in an online live casino, two of the best casino scenes ever, probably couldn’t.
The first has to include The Hangover, where Alan, played by Zach Galifianakis, pulls out, ‘The World’s Greatest Blackjack Book’ and learns to count cards in record time. He hits the tables to win the ransom money to free their friend in true beat-the-house-crowd-cheering style alongside a motivationally upbeat soundtrack.
Then there is the scene from Ocean’s Thirteen when Bernie Mac‘s Frank plays his domino game, ‘Nuff Said’ for Al Pacino at the Future of Gaming Expo (‘when they win, we win’). Does anyone understand it? No. But his sales pitch is electrifying.
With the Bond franchise looking like going on forever, could there be a time when Q’s technology allows him to revisit the casino virtually, playing against all of the world’s most notorious villains? Cinematically and visually, probably not, but it would be a lot more realistic, and it would follow modern casino trends.
