Moviemakers around the world choose different settings or different central themes for their movies. In many cases, casinos or gambling themes are in the forefront or in the background of the movie. This is pretty apparent why. There are lots of interesting stories that you can explore by having a casino in a movie. They are connected to glamour, riches, real-life problems, or simply to having a good time. But why is there nothing about the thrill of gambling online out there?
One of the famous franchises, James Bond, had a movie Casino Royale, and that was really an action-packed and overall great story. The movie received good feedback from the audience and critics, and the scene in the casino, while they are playing poker, is definitely one of the highlights. However, online gambling parlors have been popular for quite some time, yet there are no movies about them. Here we will explore why nobody made a movie about an online casino and speculate what a movie about it would look like.
Problems with setting
As stated, one of the reasons for having a luxurious casino in your movie is because it makes for a great setting. You can make a heist movie and build up your characters as expert con artists like in Ocean’s Eleven since the security systems in these institutions are top-notch. You can have it be a base of operation for a mobster or as just a destination where protagonists lose money which can create problems for them. Meaning the setting itself is oozing with potential.
Moreover, casinos might pay producers for advertising their institution and include it in the movie. But before you get any ideas for video vlogs with promotions, bear in mind that filming and taking photos isn’t always allowed. There is no law prohibiting this, but casinos don’t like it if someone can record their security cameras.
When it comes to online casinos, they are basically a website, and it’s rare to take a single website as a setting for a movie. Still, you can have it as a plot point where someone gets ahold of or loses money by online gambling. However, it wouldn’t be exactly a movie about an online gambling parlor in that case.
There aren’t many iconic online casinos
Land-based casinos are often a part of a resort or a hotel and are basically tourist attractions. As a result, there are many iconic or famous establishments that are fun to include in the movie. Many people have visited that place, and you know that some of the viewers will say- “Oh my god, I know that place!”
The same cannot be said for websites. Sure, players enjoy visiting any popular highest-paying online casino with instant withdrawal methods, but these brands are either well-known in a specific region or by online gamblers. Meaning that these websites are familiar only to a certain audience. And big-budget movies try to be appealing to the masses as much as possible.
Furthermore, this is an issue for both the present and the future of an online casino-themed movie because the “WOW” factor that these websites use isn’t the same as the one needed for the movie. While any instant withdrawal casino will offer fast payment methods and great bonuses to amaze you, the land-based casinos will use different tactics. They will offer you a free drink or something to ear, or even live entertainment in luxurious and elegant surroundings. So, it is obvious that retail casinos are still better movie material than online ones that focus too much on practicality and being time-saving.
It’s too expensive
We know that big brand names often appear in blockbuster movies. For that, they pay a lot of money. So, it is possible for some of the better-standing online casinos to have their brand displayed, but that is not the best way to advertise. Believe it or not, despite the high number of users, individual online platforms are not too profitable. If you look at casino stock prices, most of the top players are all land-based institutions, resorts, and hotels.
Investors tend to be skeptical about gambling sites, as the competition is tight, and a website itself is not as valuable of an asset as a land and a hotel. This is why the best casino stock to buy is the one of a giant corporation that owns the land as well. So, if you want to know which online platform is most likely to make a minor appearance in a movie, check out the stock market casino to find out who are some of the top brands.
Censorship
In truth, there are gambling brands that might appear in a random scene, but movies are also edited a lot in order to pass censorship. Most of the new blockbusters movies are also going above and beyond to be allowed entry into the Chinese market, and that could be a problem. In China, almost all forms of gambling are illegal and adding scenes that could promote online gambling might be a problem.
Also, blockbuster movies tend to be PG-13 or even just family movies that kids will watch, which is why gambling tends to be censored. Even if it were to slip past the censorship, it could be perceived as negative, so it’s really not a good look for an online casino to be slammed by the bad press all of a sudden.
There’s still hope
Over the past few years, we have seen a few horror movies that take place on social media or in live chat rooms. This could be an ideal opportunity for someone to get creative and come up with a horror movie that involves an online casino. There are live dealer and live poker games, so it would be cool to have a few friends to start playing on a haunted website.
Just imagine a few folks sitting with their camera on, playing different games, and then a live dealer starts to act weird. They can’t turn off the site or their camera and are forced to continue playing. Once they run out of chips, they need to find other things to wager. That could be a solid movie, right?
Photo credit: The feature image has been done by Andree Sierra. The photo “woman in casino” was taken by Jorge Antonio Flores Delgado. The picture “woman in empty cinema” was shot by Rodrigo Nestor Quiñones Fernández.
Source: Peter Bradshaw (Guardian) / Michael Hiller (LA Times) / Mark Knight (Irish Casino Sites) / Mark Knight (Casino Of The Kings) / Matthew Johnston (Investopedia)
