Gamblers beware—the house ALWAYS wins!
Ah, the casino… a chance to triple your money, and have fun while doing it. Or go home completely broke, and, due to the glitz and glamor of the establishment and the presence of well-dressed high-rollers like the Millionaire Playboy and the Socialite, probably have fun while doing it.
If the characters visit Las Vegas, there will definitely be at least ONE of these, and someone will probably go home broke, either due to strange House Rules, The Con run by The Syndicate or legitimate bad luck, but hey, Viva Las Vegas! Other American locales where you'll likely find a casino include Atlantic City, New Jersey, and land owned by indigenous people (for which see the Native American Casino trope). If the story takes place in Europe, substitute Monte Carlo for Las Vegas; if in Asia, Macau is the go-to place.
A crooked gambler planning The Con and a Caper Crew planning a heist will be drawn to casinos as their target, as millions in cash flow through them. But thieves of all types should be cautious, as casinos gave sophisticated security and monitoring systems and they have guards everywhere.
In video games, this is sometimes a Minigame Zone if you can play the games there, but not always. One could also have to bring down The Mafia there too.
For where the gambling isn't actually legal and licenced, see Illegal Gambling Den.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Cat's Eye has a storyline where the owner of the targeted painting also owns at least three underground casinos.
- In the Cowboy Bebop episode "Honky Tonk Woman", a casino chip with a microchip in it is to be exchanged in one of these. For added fun, it takes place in a casino/space station shaped like a roulette wheel.
- In Descendants of Darkness, Tsuzuki actually had to pretend to be a dealer on a cruise ship's casino in order to investigate murders.
- Devil May Cry: The Animated Series: Episode 9 takes place on a casino in a cruise ship, as Dante is invited by the rumored gambler "King" to play poker. Dante's allies (Morrison, Lady, and Patty) tagged along because it's also a part of an investigation.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- Stardust Crusaders: The cafe establishment the heroes enter into looking for information about DIO's mansion is also a mini-casino that's run and also owned by D'Arby The Gambler where he challenges them to put their souls on the line.
- Steel Ball Run: With time short before their transflormation occurs, Johnny and Gyro resort to visiting a casino to discard all the cash they were given quickly as possible, while at the same time having to battle eleven assailants.
- One Piece Film: Gold is set to take place on a cruise liner which houses what is virtually the city of Las Vegas in it.
- Rave Master: Elie spends a lot of time in casinos. Considering that she's Born Lucky, it makes sense that this is her go-to way to make money.
Comic Books
- In Chassis, Elizabeth Tall Mountain is the owner of the Dream Catcher Casino on the Algonquin reservation. The casino is the sponsor of her 'nephew' Mark Little Crow: the first Native American Aero-Run racer.
Fan Works
- Checkmate (Anla'Shok): The Capitol sponsors a bar for gambling on the Hunger Games. This costs the government a fortune when Johanna wins the Hunger Games after 1/4th of the Capitol bet on her at 10-1 odds, and President Snow is a very Sore Loser.
- In FREAKIN GENSOKYO, Yukari has a casino of her very own, the Golden Grin.
- The Peony Pavilion Resort and Casino is where the action of the Hell Casino/Maifya Arc of One Piece: Parallel Works takes place. However, at this casino, the biggest winners are forced to prostitute themselves under orders by the Dragon Lady. If they don't comply, they will be killed.
Film — Animated
- In Cars 2, the Lemons actually use an old casino in Italy as their evil lair.
Films — Live-Action
- In the movie 3000 Miles to Graceland, there's a shootout in one of these, featuring robbers wearing Elvis outfits.
- Biff Tannen's Pleasure Paradise from Back to the Future Part II includes a casino.
- The action of Bet Your Life starts and ends in the Tower Casino, an exclusive, members-only high-roller casino in Las Vegas. It is so that exclusive that when Chuck tries to get info on the place, he learns that many of the major players in Vegas have never even heard of it.
- The film Casino follows Sam "Ace" Rothstein (De Niro), a expert handicapper who is asked by the Chicago Outfit to oversee the day-to-day casino and hotel operations at the Tangiers Casino in Las Vegas.
- The Shaw Brothers action-gorefest, The Casino, set in the titular building which is a gambling haven for the local gangs until the protagonist, a gambler and fighter, stops by and decide to rip their operations apart from within. Most of the film including it's excessively violent finale is set in the eponymous place.
- The action of Guns, Girls and Gambling starts at The Chief's Native American Casino, when the Apache war mask is stolen from his office.
- Iron Man: When Tony Stark is given an award at a ceremony held in Las Vegas, he misses accepting the award because he's busy working. And by "busy working", we mean "having some fun gambling".
- James Bond books and films cemented the association of casinos with Spy Fiction. Truth in Television as author Ian Fleming's usage of casinos was inspired by Casino Estoril in Portugal, which was a den of spies during World War II.
- Casino Royale (1954)
- Dr. No - The casino scene (or rather, baccarat club scene) introduces both the first Bond Girl in the series (though not the main one) and the The Name Is Bond, James Bond line and subsequent trope.
- Thunderball
- On Her Majesty's Secret Service - The second time Bond meets Tracy happens at a club where people play baccarat.
- Diamonds Are Forever - Bond goes to Vegas this time around.
- The Man with the Golden Gun - Professional Killer Francisco Scaramanga sends his mistress Andrea to retrieve the golden bullets Mr. Lazar makes for him at a casino in Macau.
- Never Say Never Again
- Licence to Kill - Drug baron Franz Sanchez practically owns the whole country of Isthmus and has his office atop a casino.
- GoldenEye - Bond first talks with Xenia Onatopp as they play baccarat at Monte Carlo.
- The World Is Not Enough - Elektra King stages her own money losses to launder money at Zukovsky's casino in Azerbaijan.
- Casino Royale (2006) - Bond participates in a Texas hold'em tournament with very high stakes agains a terrorist banker. Before that, he challenges terrorist middleman Alex Dimitrios to a smaller stake Texas hold'em tournament at a Bahamas hotel resort (the prize being much less money and an Aston Martin DB5, which Bond wins).
- Skyfall - a brief scene at a Macau casino with Bond and Eve as Bond sneaks aboard a junk to get to the island Silva is hiding at.
- Looney Tunes: Back in Action: D.J. and Daffy visit Yosemite Sam's casino in Las Vegas to search for the clue D.J.'s father mentioned in his message.
- Several spy movie parodies also feature casino scenes. This is no surprise, as many of them draw from the James Bond series.
- The first Austin Powers movie.
- Casino Royale (1967)
- If Looks Could Kill
- Spy
- The plot of Monte Carlo centers around Countess Helene Mara's attempt to escape from a Marriage of Convenience by gambling her way into a fortune.
- Both the original Ocean's 11 and its remake Ocean's Eleven are about schemes to rob casinos in Vegas. Ocean's Thirteen features the eponymous team rigging all the games in one of these for revenge.
- The final act of Rush Hour 2 takes place at the Chinese-themed Red Dragon casino in Las Vegas, which serves as a front for an elaborate money forging scheme by the Triads.
- The Thieves centres around a Caper Crew put together to heist a $20 million dollar from a casino in Macau.
Literature
- Dortmunder: In What's the Worst That Could happen?, the final crime in the escalating series of crimes committed by Dortmunder in his attempts to regain his ring is an Ocean's Eleven style heist on Max Fairbanks' casino in Las Vegas.
- Lerch's casino from The Grey Automobile, designed in Art Nouveau style.
- As mentioned above, the James Bond series of books is heavily associated with the depiction of casinos in spy novels.
- In "The Theft of the Cuckoo Clock", Nick Velvet is hired to steal a broken plastic cuckoo clock. What makes the theft challenging is the clock's location: inside the manager's office at the centre of a well-guarded casino.
- In River of Teeth, Small-Town Tyrant Travers runs an entire chain of casino boats on the Harriet, including pleasure barges where his guests can rest and spend whatever money they didn't lose at the tables. Card sharps or customers who cause trouble end up getting thrown by Travers' goons into the lake to be eaten by feral hippos.
- The Supervillainy Saga book Tales of Supervillainy: Cindy's Seven: The Dragon King's casino is located on its own private island with a massive statue of its owner wrapped around it. They are a literal dragon so its quite impressive. It is also where his actually her enormous horde is located.
- Vampire Academy:
- Rose, Lissa, Eddie Castile, Victor Dashkov, Adrian Ivashkov, and Robert Doru spend time in various Las Vegas' casinos in Spirit Bound. They do not have much time to enjoy the sights are they are hunted down by Dimitri the Strigoi and his subordinates.
- The same book establishes that there is a Moroi-owned casino in Las Vegas, called the Witching Hour. It figures out again in the plot of Last Sacrifice. Eric Dragomir met his mistress Emily (Mastrano) there, fifteen years before the events of the book.
Live-Action TV
- In Barbary Coast, secret agent Jeff Cable operates out of a secret room inside his friend/unwilling ally Cash Conover's Golden Gate Casino.
- Cold Case: In "The Hitchhiker", the team reopens the 1997 murder of Matthew Mills, a 20-year-old hitchhiker killed on his way back to Philadelphia after winning big in Atlantic City, and the episode features multiple flashbacks showing what happened in thhe casino.
- In Criminal Minds, Reid goes undercover, and fails to blend in, at a casino looking for an Unsub after proving his experience by being banned from casinos in three cities.
- Dempsey and Makepeace: In "Lucky Streak", Dempsey happens to be present at a casino when it is robbed and a security guard murdered.
- In Heroes, there's Linderman's casino, and it's a plot point for much of the first series.
- The Hustle take down a Vegas casino for $5 million in "Big Daddy Calling" after the owner has Albert roughed up.
- Las Vegas is set in a fictional casino on the Las Vegas Strip, the Montecito.
- The first half-season of Mr. Lucky takes place largely in (and/or aboard) these.
- The episode "Double Down" in NUMB3RS revolves around card counting in a casino. Larry is revealed to be a former card counter, and he, Charlie, and Amita gamble at a casino.
- Whodunnit? (UK): "Adieu Monsieur Chips" is about the murder of a casino manager and the theft of a large amount of high value chips from his office.
- Young Sheldon: In "Pish Posh and a Secret Back Room", Connie tells Dale that she's lost a lot of money to casinos over a lifetime of gambling. By running a casino out of a laundromat, she can now "be the House" and be a winner, since the House always wins. Unfortunately for her, running a casino out of a laundromat comes with a lot of the same problems that beset regular laundromats.
Pinballs
- Not surprisingly, Stern Pinball's High Roller Casino takes place entirely in one.
- Jack*Bot is The Casino IN SPACE!
Tabletop Games
- In Rocket Age the Rocket Cat nightclub in Emancipation, Mars, has a secret casino hidden in the back, available by invitation only.
Video Games
- In Action Doom 2: Urban Brawl, as you're riding an elevator upwards through the corporation building and punching out everyone you meet along the way, one of the floors you come upon is a casino, complete with snazzy casino music and mini-games to play.
- The third mission in Bonanza Bros. takes place in a casino. Depending on whether or not you're playing a Bowdlerized version, either the Casino Executives are corrupt and you're stealing evidence, you're testing an elaborate security system, or it's just a straight-up heist.
- Borderlands 3 DLC "Moxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot" takes place on the titular Handsome Jackpot, a Space Station casino resort that was run by Handsome Jack until his death at the end of Borderlands 2.
- Fat Cat's Casino from Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, which is based on the TV series episode, "Adventures in Squirrel-Sitting". The boss is one of Fat Cat's henchmen, who tosses coins from a slot machine.
- The first disc of Countdown Vampires is set in a horror-themed casino hotel known as "The Desert Moon".
- Pictured above is the casino from Cuphead, owned by the Devil himself, thus making it "The Devil's Casino". The plot of the game kicks off due to a bet the Devil makes with Cuphead and Mugman, which they lose. The penultimate boss against the Devil's right hand man, King Dice, takes place in the casino.
- Discworld Noir has the Saturnalia Casino, one of the key locations for getting information. There's a roulette wheel and a card table playing "truncheon" (i.e. blackjack, but with the full Caroc deck).
- Dungeon Keeper 2 has a casino as one of the rooms you can add to your dungeon. It will allow you to attract rogues into your army of minions, and can be set to either generous or rigged, depending on if you want happier minions or more money to spend.
- Evil Genius 2 has a casino resort as your Evil Genius' cover operation on the island. While the main purpose is to sap the Smarts (making it more likely for them to set off traps) and Resolve (get it to zero and they'll give up and leave your island) of enemy agents, you can also use the table games and slot machines to scam the wandering tourists instead if you're in a financial pinch.
- The Fallout series has several of these starting with Gizmo's casino in Junktown and The Hub's Maltese Falcon in the first game.
- Fallout 2 has several casinos in New Reno run by rival crime families.
- Fallout: New Vegas naturally has a few casinos in that city. Plus one in Primm.
- Grand Theft Auto:
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has three accessible casinos in Las Venturas, with the Traid-run (and player-run) Four Dragons Hotel & Casino, the Mafia-run Caligula's Palace, and a smaller unnamed casino. One of the main mission strings in Las Venturas involves robbing Caligula's.
- Grand Theft Auto V has an non-accessible casino at the Vinewood Racetrack; in some of Trevor's switch scenes, he can be seen being thrown out of the casino either for cheating or not wearing pants on the casino floor. In 2019, the casino was updated to the Diamond Casino & Resort in the titular update for Grand Theft Auto Online, which adds in a fully player-accessible casinonote . The follow-up update even allows the players to rob the casino.
- The Golden Grin Casino in PAYDAY 2. Your mission is to rob the place blind, but you can also play the slots while you're there.
- The climatic sixth Palace in Persona 5 takes the form of a casino. In order to reach the palace's treasure, you need to accumulate coins at the casino's various games. The problem is, that most of the games are rigged, forcing you to cheat back in order to progress. Palaces are Mental World versions of real places. The real building that the casino represents is the courthouse, making it both an In-Universe and out of universe Take That! to the Japanese legal system.
- Pokémon Red and Blue's Game Corner, while a Minigame Zone, is also the front for Team Rocket's base of operations.
- Baccarat in SaGa Frontier. At least three characters go there during their quests, but none of the games can be played.
- Sonic Adventure's third stage is casino themed, but the focus is on pinball, with Sonic as the ball. The main wagering you do is hoping to collect 100 rings in a game to avoid being dumped into the sewer, and one pinball game has a slot bonus, where one set of symbols (Dr. Eggman's face) will steal all of your rings.
- In Superhuman, you, Alice and Michael have to go to a casino to play a poker gamer and win an unspecified prize.
- Super Mario Bros.:
- Super Mario 64 DS: All of Luigi's Mini-games occur within a casino with him acting as the dealer and handling the cards.
- Super Mario Sunshine: Hotel Delfino has a casino in the basement, having a vast amount of slot machines while being overrun with Boos.
- In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, there's the Pianta Parlor owned by the mob, where Mario can play games to earn tokens and exchange them for items.
- Glittertown/Neon City in Wario Land: Shake It! is this kind of area, with multiple casino type areas in two levels set in an extremely obvious fictional pastiche of Las Vegas especially given that you go through a couple desert levels first.
- One of the mid-tier locations in The Swindle is the Casino district. It introduces a fascinating new variety of murderbots to make your life harder.
- The Yakuza series features several backalley casinos with both Western and Japanese games.
Web Comics
- In Holiday Wars, there's the Jack O'Lantern casino in Vegas which is run by Halloween. You can check it out here
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Western Animation
- Alfred J. Kwak: Dolf takes a pot of gold to Moreno, a stand-in for Monaco and its Monte Carlo casino.
- Craig of the Creek has The Baby Casino. Run by a baby who acts as The Don, and with regular childish games and pastimes, such as Tic-Tac-Toe, treated as high stakes games that the kids bet on.
- Detentionaire has The Hydra, owned by a man known only as The Serpent. Since the characters are in High School, they're a little more concerned with the secret submarine base hidden beneath it than gambling.
