The top five sports betting movies of all times are those that received good reviews from movie pundits, while grossing millions on box office. You can watch any of them to understand why they made news.
Silver Lining Playbook
Patrizio Solitano was treated for bipolar disorder after he attacked and wounded a man that he caught in the bathroom with his wife Nikki. Discharged after 8 months of therapy, he knew better than to do things that would bring him back to the clinic.
With the belief that he had been cured, Pat started making attempts to bring back his wife who had obtained a restraining order against him. While at Ronnie’s house for dinner, Pat made acquaintances with a young widowed lady, Tiffany, Ronnie’s sister-in-law, who also had gone through some mental rehabilitation. Tiffany was attracted to Ronnie and tried to stop him from reconciling with his wife, Nikki.
Meanwhile, the senior Patrizio planned to start a restaurant, so he started illegal bookmaking to raise the funds, but lost his bets when he wagered on Philadelphia Eagles winning a game. Tiffany suggested that she had noticed that the team fares well whenever she and Pat got along well. The elder Patrizio was convinced and decided to make another bet if the duo did well in a dance competition they had been preparing for. They did, he placed another bet on the team and won.
The Bookies
Three college students started a bookmaking business on campus. They grew their client base so quickly that it raised suspicion among people in the community. As their business grew, they started buying expensive things that they hoped would be of use when they are fully set up. They however, did not reckon with the local mafia noticing that a new competitor was in the market. One the trio, Toby, had to find a means of getting the mafia off their backs. A boxing match bet helped settle the mafia.
The film ended with the mafia dealing with someone that was unable to pay them off, pointing to the behind-the-scenes crimes sometimes associated with gambling.
Jude, one of the students later dropped out of college, a testimony that gambling wealth could lead to distraction for some. Casey continues after changing programs while Toby went on to grad school, paying his fees with money he made from bets.
The Gambler
This 2014 movie is a classic that would excite any gambling enthusiast. Jim Bennette, played by Mark Wahlberg, is a Los Angeles professor of literature, addicted to gambling. He racked up debt of $250,000 after borrowing from people including loan sharks to gamble.
Lee, an operator of a high-stage gambling pool Jim owed $200,000 threatened to kill him if he didn’t pay up in 7 days. Unable to raise the money, he resorted to trying to borrow more to buy time. Desperate, he went to his mum but she refused to lend him more money.
Jim was kidnapped by a loan shark, Neville Baraka who he owed $50,000. Baraka had him tortured and threatened to kill people dear to him if he didn’t convince one of his students, an upcoming basketball star, Lamar Allen to win his next college game by a 7-point margin or less. The target of the threat was Amy Phillips, Jim’s student, with whom he had developed an amorous relationship with.
Desperate, Jim goes to Frank, another loan shark who had earlier turned him down because he refused to belittle himself due to his incessant addiction to gambling. Frank gave him a loan of $260,000 to pay off Lee, but Jim used the $150,000 to bribe his student, Lamar. He also bet on the game with the rest of the money and won.
The movie shows the desperation of people who do not believe that they can be out of debt without gambling, even though gambling was what put them into debt. Jim was able to play a final game that enabled him to pay off those he owed. The movies ended with him broke, but out of debt and his loved ones safe from threats.
Uncut Gems
Howard Ratner is the owner of a jewelry store in the diamond district of NYC. His addiction to gambling had left him in debt of $100,000 to his loan shark brother-in-law, Arno. That they are related by marriage doesn’t stop Arno from threatening Ratner, who was already having problems with his wife.
Ratner smuggled a rare opal from Ethiopia, which arrived at the store at a time his associate, Demany was present in the company of a basketball star, Kevin Garnett. Garnette insisted on wearing the black opal during his game later in the evening. Ratner was reluctant but later gave in. He gave the opal to Garnett in exchange for the latter’s NBA championship ring which he won in 2008.
Ratner pawned the ring and used the fund to bet on Garnett performing extraordinarily in the match. As expected, Garnette was the star player for the night, but unknown to Ratner, his brother-in-law had stopped his bet because of the debt he owed him. He would have won $600,000.
Garnett offered to buy the black opal, but his $175,000 was too low for Ratner who expected to raise at least a million dollars from a planned auction. He would later find out that the value of the opal was much lower than $1 million. He decided to use his father-in-law, Gooey, to boost the value during the auction, so that Garnett would buy it at the close of the auction, but the player ended his bid after Gooey made a higher offer.
All through the movie, Arno and his thugs Phil and Nico tried to recover the $100,000 Ratner owed Arno, while Ratner hoped to outmaneuver them. He later sold the black opal to Garnette and used the money to place a three-way parley on Garnett’s performance. This time, he had the trio locked in between security doors at the store while following the match. He won $1.2 million and excitedly released the thugs, who shot him in annoyance.
Two For The Money
In this 2005 movie, the career of Brandon Lang, a college football star was cut short by an injury. He started a football handicapping business which brought him in contact with Walter Abrams, who owns the largest sports consultancy in the country. The duo started making a lot of money through Lang’s intimate knowledge of the game and players.
Lang also became the chief sporting analyst for their sports program, even though he used a different name. The popularity of the program soared. Lang started living the high flyer life, but stopped doing his homework. He started giving his advice based on hunches and people started losing money. The movie ended with a last bet which he decided upon through a coin toss.
These are the top five sports betting movies. Each has a lesson that would help you in your games. You simply may just enjoy them for fun.
