3 Things the Bond Movies Got Right About Casinos and 3 Things They Got Wrong - Warped Factor - Words in the Key of Geek.

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3 Things the Bond Movies Got Right About Casinos and 3 Things They Got Wrong


The Bond franchise is still going strong more than 50 years after its inception. Thanks to the abundance of books and stories about everyone’s favourite spy, we believe its popularity will never fade away. Expensive cars and drinks, beautiful women, international spy mastery, and lavish casinos are the driving force behind these movies apart from the plot, which, to be honest, always ends up with Bond saving the world (and getting the girl or girls).

James Bond, as most of you probably know, is a huge fan of gambling. Almost every movie about the British spy features a gambling scene. Not all of them get it right, of course. That’s not a Bond movie problem – gambling and casinos are wrongfully portrayed even in movies centred on gambling.

Read, for example, any William Hill online casino review and you’ll see that you can’t just put your Jaguar keys on the table or play for hundreds of millions – casinos usually have pretty restricted bet sizes.

3 Things Bond Movies Get Right About Casinos

The Atmosphere and Luxury
Bond never plays in small-time shady casinos. When he hits the tables, it’s usually at the most lavish casinos with everyone dressed up and bets costing more than your yearly salary. The truth is that there are many similar VIP casinos nowadays where high rollers ply their trade.

Ian Fleming once said that upmarket gambling clubs along with skill at gambling and how to behave in casinos were attributes of a gentleman just like Bond. Moviemakers were surely on point in this regard.

Tipping the Dealers
We’ve seen Bond leaving a table after a game of baccarat or poker and tipping the dealer with a generous chip. In 2006’s Casino Royale, for example, he slides a $500K chip to the dealer who gets it and thanks Bond for his generosity.

Although the value has been greatly exaggerated, this is a common tradition in Vegas casinos for players who have won a nice sum of money. Tipping the dealer with table chips is a nice way of saying thank you for your service just like tipping a bell boy in a hotel. It’s just a classy thing to do, and hey, if you win thousands at a table, would a few hundred less hurt your wallet?

The Suspense
Every time Bond plays against a villain at the table the atmosphere is tense. That’s about as right as it gets – if you play a game of baccarat or anything else worth a few million dollars tension will definitely fill the air. Playing high stakes games is like tightrope walking without a safety net – it’s dangerous, but pretty exciting at the same time.



3 Things Bond Movies Get Wrong About Casinos

Ridiculous Bets
It’s not just Bond movies – most Hollywood casino flicks get the bet sizes and rewards wrong. Putting the keys of your expensive car or yacht on the table and playing for it doesn’t happen in a casino. There’s a generous prize pool, but it doesn’t hand out Jags or high-tech yachts.

Poker
Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale book originally had Bond playing a game of baccarat against the villainous Le Chiffre. That was changed to Hold’em poker for the 2006 movie due to the game’s popularity. And it was the wrong choice.

The poker hands in that tense match are absolutely ridiculous just like the rewards. Casino Royale is a great movie, but it has been notoriously drubbed online for its unreal portrayal of poker. Many poker players have pointed out the ridiculous moves made by Bond at the table that would never take place in real life unless we’re talking about a newbie, and Bond certainly isn’t one.

Casinos Aren’t Run By Villains
Although Hollywood tends to make it seem so, luxurious casinos in Vegas or anywhere else are not run by shady people or in this case, villains. Gambling is a highly regulated industry and profits are often reinvested back in the community. So don’t worry – if you win a few hands at blackjack or poker, a billionaire villain won’t send his goons to kill you.

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