Greatest Gamblers in movies

Movies the world over are full of characters who gamble on something, be it life, love or actually in a casino with real money. Whatever the method, we all love to watch a good movie gamble, as it’s something that we ourselves might not have ventured to do. Watching someone else take on a challenge when something major is at stake is fun for us, as we know we’re not affected. As such, we’re going to take a look at the greatest gamblers in movies, with, of course, a casino twist to them, to see who has taken the biggest risk.

Top gamblers in movies

With the name of the greatest gambles in movies up for grabs, let’s take a look at some of the gamblers who have taken those risks. One of the greatest movie gamblers of all time is James Bond. Admittedly, he usually gamblers with lives, but he does dabble in baccarat too. However, it’s a villain we’re focusing on here. In 2006’s Casino Royale, Le Chiffre is up against Bond. The man invests large sums of money not even online gambling sites to short airline stock. What he doesn’t count on is the interference of 007. This pushes him to gamble in order to win his money back, but he’s up against the luckiest agent alive!

Keeping the trend of bad guys here, the next memorable gamble would come from Micky Rosa in 2008’s 21. Played by Kevin Spacey, he is a professor from MIT who started a league of card counters to get ahead. It’s actually based on a true story, though the movie has taken some poetic licence with the tale. Suffice it to say, the professor puts his faith in the students, but gambling his knowledge on theirs doesn’t always go as planned when you have nefarious plans up your sleeve. Nevertheless, this movie treats us to some exceptional card counting scenes as the students attempt to pull off massive gambles.

Men with swagger

Another major gamble is pulled off in Maverick (1994). The title character, played by Mel Gibson, is determined to prove that he is the best gambler of all time. In order to do that, though, he has to perform a number of increasingly desperate gambles. What this involves is the character travelling the length of the country in order to raise enough money to make the tournament entrance fee. Maverick swindles people of their cash in this massive gamble to prove that he’s actually the best poker player of all time. However, in so doing, will this massive gamble be the biggest mistake of his life?

To finish off this list, let’s take a look at another major gambler in movie history – Mike McDermott from Rounders (1998). The movie itself is all about high stakes poker and the high-risk gambles that come with it. Played by Matt Damon, Mike used to be a gambler but he quit in order to go to law school. However, an old friend, played by Ed Norton, arrives in order to pull him back into this world. Pitting potential law school success against the chance of winning huge prizes, is this a gamble that’s likely to pay off for Mike or serve as a major wrong turn…?