Gambling is a phenomenon so widespread, it’s hard to imagine life without it – especially since it found its way to the great online.
Today, playing casino games is easier than ever: you can use your pocket wonder known as a smartphone to claim a welcome bonus when you join Euro Palace casino and explore its library of games wherever you are. Casino games, even the ones you can play for real at the Euro Palace, have become a form of casual online entertainment: you can head over to the Euro Palace for a quick hand of blackjack or a spin on your favourite slot machine whenever you feel like it. The Euro Palace is always open, never crowded, and doesn’t even enforce a black tie attire. Still, its history of two decades and some hasn’t left a footprint in the popular culture quite like its traditional form: playing games in a proper casino.
Casinos and their iconic games are present all around us – they show up in ads, in poems, in novels, and popular – and cult – movies and TV shows as well. Here are some examples of pop culture icons known – among others – for their gambling habits.
Baccarat “Chemin de Fer”
Baccarat “Chemin de Fer” is among the oldest casino games that are still around – it’s played at all levels in major casino resorts all over the world. It also happens to be the favourite casino game of the most famous secret agent ever, James Bond.
Bond plays Baccarat “Chemin de Fer” in several of his movies – Dr No, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Thunderball, and GoldenEye. The game also has an important role in the first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, written and published by Ian Fleming in 1953. In it, James Bond has to defeat – and bankrupt – Le Chiffre, the villain of the story with close ties to the Soviet counterintelligence, in a game of high-stakes baccarat at the Royale-les-Eaux casino in France. In the movie version, in turn, the game of baccarat was replaced with a more modern one, namely no-limit Texas Hold’em.
Sabacc
Fictional pop culture icons often call for fictional games. One of the best-known is sabacc, the card game of choice in the Star Wars universe. The game is similar to poker, but has several variants – one of them, known as the Corellian Spike, uses dice in addition to cards. It was the game in which iconic smuggler Han Solo won the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian – it will no doubt have an important role in the upcoming Han Solo movie.
Poker
Poker is the most popular card game ever, with millions playing it all over the world. As such, it’s clearly one card game that has an important role in many novels, TV shows, and movies. One of such undervalued gems is “Lock, Stock, and the Two Smoking Barrels”, Guy Ritchie’s directorial debut. Its plot – with a number of twists – all starts with a game of high-stakes three-card brag, lost by poker prodigy Eddy. The game puts him and his gang in a sensitive situation – they need to raise a large sum to pay “Hatchet” Harry Lonsdale or support the consequences.