The latest season of Doctor Who kicked off with an episode inspired by James Bond, complete with gadgets, tuxedos, trips to exotic locations, and a scene set in a land-based casino.
If this last one made you want to see more gambling-themed shows on your television, here’s a round-up of some of the best TV shows in this genre.
Source: Pexels
Las Vegas
Las Vegas aired on US television between 2003 and 2008. It ran for five seasons and, with more than 100 episodes, it’s the longest-running program on this list. The show started in 2003 when poker was growing in popularity – it was referred to as the ‘poker boom’ – and more and more people were playing poker online and in land-based casinos. Ever since then, online casinos have continued to be a success, and are more popular than ever. The biggest online casinos have remained popular because they offer deals to attract more players. At https://casino.paddypower.com/promotions, for example, new live casino players can get a 100% bonus. Players can also get up to £10 worth of free bets on the site’s online slot machines, showing how the industry has continued to capitalise on the popularity of earlier decades.
The series itself was set in Las Vegas, in the fictional land-based casino the Montecito Resort and Casino. It followed the lives of the people working there as they dealt with the day-to-day issues of running a land-based casino. There were some big names in the cast, including James Caan, Josh Duhamel, and Lara Flynn Boyle. There were even cameos from A-list stars such as Sylvester Stallone and Jean-Claude Van Damme, and plenty of singers made appearances, from Donny Osmond to Snoop Dogg.
Tilt
One of the few dramas made by ESPN, Tilt was all about poker. The series started in 2005, during the height of the ‘poker boom,’ and ran for nine episodes. The drama was set in the fictional land-based casino, the Colorado Casino, during the (also fictional) World Championship of Poker. The cast included Michael Madsen, Kristin Lehman, and Eddie Cibrian and followed a group of professional poker players, who teamed up to take down a criminal who’d been cheating at poker. Tilt received positive reviews, such as at https://www.multichannel.com/news, but that wasn’t enough to save it. However, one of the show’s creators, Brian Koppelman, went on to create the award-winning show Billions
Source: Pexels
Luck
Luck was a drama about horse-racing, set on a Californian racetrack. The cast included Dustin Hoffman, Michael Gambon, and Nick Nolte, and when it first aired in 2011, it looked set to be HBO’s new biggest show. It was written by David Milch, the award-winning writer behind shows like Deadwood and NYPD Blue, and right after the first episode aired, the show was renewed for a second season. However, things didn’t go to plan. Before the first season finished airing, it was revealed a number of horses had injured themselves during filming and were put down. Filming of the second season was suspended, and shortly afterwards, the show was cancelled, as was reported at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news. Despite the positive reviews and high ratings, that was it for the show.
With high stakes and plenty of drama, it’s no surprise that gambling’s inspired so many TV shows. With so many different games available, and the amounts of people that can play, the possibilities for stories are endless.