Since the beginning of film noir, casinos have been presented as romantic, glamorous, and thrilling places to be. It brings to mind the suits smoldering around a poker table, sipping away at their martinis — shaken not stirred. Or maybe it’s the floaters loitering around slot machines, used as a comical touch.

Either way, we all have an idea as to what casino culture is like that has been influenced by TV.

The Name’s Bond

An obvious choice for displaying casino culture is the 2006 James Bond film, Casino Royale. It’s about as stereotypical a Bond film as you can get with beautiful women, fast cars, and high stakes. Martin Campbell, the film’s director, uses the poker table as a tool to build tension and anticipation throughout the film.

This is shown in the Texas Hold’em game between Bond (Daniel Craig) and the antagonist, LeChiffre (Mads Mikkelsen). You can tell LeChiffre is the ‘bad guy’ from the Bond-style deformity that causes him to weep blood from one eye.

Even without knowing the rules of the game, it’s easy to understand the effect of each hand by the actor’s subtle cues. An impressive feat that brilliantly portrays the high-adrenaline, green-felted reality that poker holds.

Interestingly, Campbell enlisted a poker consultant, Tom Sambrook, to ensure authenticity — even though Reddit users will constantly be in debate over this. Sambrook even trained each actor and crew member to make the most realistic portrayal. Mikkelsen is an avid player, telling an interviewer once that, ironically, Craig was actually the worst player of them all.

The Heartthrob Cast

Another representation of casinos in media is the 2001 fast-paced Ocean’s Eleven. Featuring Danny Ocean (George Clooney) as the loveable crook on a mission to steal $160 million from the owner of three casinos — and his ex-wife’s new lover, conveniently.

One of his recruits, Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) teaches actors how to play poker. Instead of using the table for suspension, it uses the table to highlight Rusty’s intellect and endearing nature.

The lighting used inside the casinos is primarily saturated with a warm glow to create the feel of a Las Vegas casino, without you having to leave the sofa. Online gaming offers the same type of appeal and convenience, and with sites like Casinomeister, it’s easy to sieve the best deals and highest rankings available.

If you want to experience the glamour in person, The Bellagio has become a popular tourist hotspot, specifically its fountains. Possibly credited to the film’s finale, in which the men look on as the fountains seemingly dance to Clair de Lune, leaving one by one.

The Love Life isn’t DOA

In the 1994 series, Friends, the group visits a fictional casino to surprise Joey (Matt LeBlanc) for his alleged ‘big break’. Comically, he is instead working for the casino as a gladiator, having the most ‘toga-rific time’. Four of the five friends flying over get married or plan to, claiming it’s the rush of Vegas that influenced them both.

The craps table proposal is undoubtedly the most romantic of the trip (the other being a booze-infused joke). Monica (Courtney Cox) is the luckiest dice roller, which is very fitting with her competitive character. After a very quickly resolved fight, Chandler (Matthew Perry) is soon by her side, upping the stakes of what they will buy with every win.

The stakes finally hit their crescendo when Chandler states: “If you roll another hard eight, then we get married here tonight”. Which results in one four landing on the table and the other rolling onto the floor, landing at an angle. It could be a four or a five, and Monica says “It’s your call”, to which he replies, “It’s a four”. Cue the aww’s and grab some tissues.

The Other Way Around

Just as casinos have influenced television, the same can be said vice versa. Thousands of online and in-house casinos have utilised the power of TV and incorporated it into different games and machines.

There are slots for pretty much every theme and genre out there, including a Friends-themed slot. It even uses references from the series — for example, the Bamboozled Bonus, which reflects back to Joey’s overcomplicated gameshow.

There are also a number of James Bond-themed slots that can be found online, whether that’s the general spy genre or fully referencing the 007 brand. I wouldn’t recommend a heist at any casino, but as a substitute, there are always cops and robbers. Or, for the true experience, you could try your hand at the poker or craps table.

Television portrays a fast-paced environment for casinos, driving romantic relationships and action between characters. Often used as the scene of a final showdown, casinos have been the perfect backdrop for many action films and dramas. Directors utilise the pace to drive their own plot because whether it’s a heist, proposal, or bankrupting a villain, the stakes are always high.

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Tags: casino, Friends, james bond