From Sports Betting to Success: Movies That Tell the Story

These Movies Are a Great Way to Understand the Concepts and Develop a Strategy

Life’s a Bet 

Sports betting is annually a multi-billion-dollar business, growing in both social acceptance and legalization. The latter has led to all professional leagues “getting in bed” with any number of wagering platforms to get their share of the take.  

There are any number of wagering options in any number of sports all over the world. Football, as in the variety played in America, dwarfs the others in both interest and wagering. That’s not to say other athletic endeavors don’t have their share of fans and gamblers, which is why the subject of wagering on sports remains so fascinating.  

Hollywood has taken notice, using this backdrop of betting as a theme in many movies. 

Even though some flicks are/were more compelling than others, all have attempted to capture the “romance” of the subject. 

Here’s a look at some of them…  

What Are Some Popular Movies About Sports Betting?

Those who bet on sports are a breed all to themselves. Whether they’re gambling casually, seriously, or somewhere in between, what they have in common are strong constitutions and masochistic tendencies.

Those “bad beats” make one talk to one’s self, whether dropping a pass, clanging a shot, hitting the crossbar, or some other form of torture, it’s a big day in the antacid market.  

The last-second backdoor cover is a subject all by itself. 

Then there are those movies where the participants themselves try to influence the outcome.

That immoral tale was told quite well in Eight Men Out (1988), about the 1919 Chicago “Black Sox” throwing the World Series. That team White Sox was heavily favored to defeat the Cincinnati Reds, but lost in eight games (it was best-of-nine). Lifetime bans and more stringent oversight of the game were the byproducts. 

Trying to get into the heads of the sports bettors and betting odds were films such as The Color of Money (1986), Lay the Favorite (2012), and Two For the Money (2005).        

Are the Movies Based on Real Sports Betting Stories?

Some of the best sports betting movies have been plucked right out of reality. As was mentioned, Eight Men Out depicts the 1919 Chicago White Sox tanking in the World Series. was released 25 years after Eliot Asinof’s 1963 book on the subject, portraying the players trying to “even the score” against a penurious owner.

Even a movie such as The Gambler (1974) was a biographical look at the university professor/screenwriter’s own addictive habits.

Those who wager on the ponies have their share of “role models” on the screen, including Let it Ride (1989) and even the cable series Luck (2011). 

Why Is Sports Betting a Popular Theme in Movies?

Sports movies, including those incorporating the element of betting, are a popular theme in motion pictures mainly because of the fascination/obsession of trying to make money at it.

Finding the winner when Team “A” meets Team “B” is a challenge, and that’s before the money odds and points/goals spreads are involved.

Any Final Thoughts?

We can’t leave the subject of sports betting without a shout-out to The Hustler (1961), because any black-and-white film with Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, and a pool table is tremendous. Back to the gazillion-dollar industry of sports betting, those who engage have a mindset all their own, but they all have a common thread…finding an edge to beat the board and/or the bookie.