Many people will never visit a real, traditional casino in their lives. In many countries, such as Norway, brick and mortar casinos don’t even exist so what people see in movies believe to be a fair picture. In reality, movies get a lot of things wrong. Casino and gambling are simply interesting and exciting topics that will always give a nice scene in any movie and film producers want to depict these places as glamorous and dodgy.
In this article, we are going to bust these myths you learnt about casinos from movies. Alexandra Nereng, an iGaming expert from Norway, whom you can read more about here, shared with us her favourite “movie mistakes” and we will tell you what is wrong with them.
You Must Wear a Black-Tie Outfit
In so many movies from Casino Royale to Hangover, the main characters wear black tie, white tie or business outfits. The truth is that while some casinos do have a dress code, most of them don’t. Particularly in Las Vegas, where half of the year it is over 30° people tend to come into the casino floor in shorts and T-shirts. In Vegas, most casinos are situated in hotels and to check in to your room or walk to the swimming pool you have to go through the casino floor. Do you think they could tell you to do that in a black-tie outfit? Hardly! That being said, some of the fanciest casinos, particularly for evening visits do ask for a business outfit, so check before you visit.
If you can’t be bothered with a possible dress code, you can always find an online casino that offers casino bonus and accepts players from Norway.
Card Counters Will Be Beaten Up
If you have seen the movie, 21, you know what we are talking about. In this movie, a group of college students target Las Vegas casinos to win big on blackjack. At some point, one of them is figured out to be a cheater and beaten up by the casino-employed thugs.
First of all, card counting is not illegal. Casinos don’t like the practice for sure, but the maximum they can do is ban card counters from the casino or set maximum bet levels for them. Casinos don’t hire thugs and they certainly don’t beat up lucky players!
Professional Poker Players Often Have Great Hands
Poker is a game of skill and luck and no matter how good somebody is their chances of getting a certain hand is not any higher than for any other person. In movies, people often get a Royal Flush but the probability of this is only 649.739: 1. In Casino Royale, there is a poker scene with players in the same game having a flush, two full houses, and a straight flush. The probability of this happening is 18 trillion to one!
People Will Cheer For You When You Play
This is often the case in movies where people play craps. Those who don’t know how craps is played mistakenly think that all those people behind a shooter are cheering for him. However, in reality, they have placed the same bet as him: pass and come. Other than if you are the shooter in craps, nobody will be behind you cheering for you.
There Is No No-Limits Table
Having a no-limits table is one of the common mistakes in movies about casino scene descriptions. In movies often high-rollers will go to the no-limits table and bet a million dollars on one hand. In reality, every table has limits and it is displayed at the table. This is the only way the casino can ensure it still has a house edge.
Casinos Are Run By the Mafia
Movies often depict the casino manager as a mafia boss or at least someone who is dodgy. The truth is that casinos have to comply with local laws and are regularly audited for fairness. Las Vegas casinos might have had a dark era in the past but those times are long gone and running a casino is just like any other legitimate business.
Conclusion
Movies about casino and gambling often depict this world as glamorous and full of dangers. Most of the wow factors they use are simply not true though. Don’t believe everything you see on the big screen; visit a casino and see it yourself!
