Intro

Lucky You is an American drama shot on location in Vegas in 2007. It stars Drew Barrymore as Billie Offer, Eric Banner, Huck Cheever, a talented Poker player and Robert Duvall as LC Cheever. Lucky You was inspired by George Stevens 1970 film The Only Game in Town.

The Main Story

Huck Cheever is a talented Vegas Poker player who needs $10000 to secure a seat in the World Series of Poker Main Event. He is also continuously haunted by his relationship with his estranged father a two-time WOSP Champion.

After a winning night at the Bellagio Hotel Poker room, Huck goes to a party where he meets Billie (Drew Barrymore) and is warned by her older sister to stay away from Chuck. A Loan Shark offers to sponsor Chuck in the Poker Tournaments which Chuck refuses in the hope of getting a loan from a friend sadly that too is not successful. Instead, he steals from Billie to play in a “super satellite” game to secure his main event position. As events unfold, LC appears and beats Huck in a simple guts game costing him all his stake money for the World Series and in debt to a ruthless loan shark.

Huck eventually finds the money to enter the World Series where he and his father both advance to the final table of nine. There is a showdown between the two where Huck deliberately folds a winning hand taking third place with LC taking second place losing the title to Jackson Keyes. The latter won his entry in an online satellite similar to Chris Moneybookers in 2003.

The Ending

After the tournament LC challenges his son Huck to a one on one rematch playing only for pennies and dimes. The father and sons relationship is restored in the final scene as is Hucks relationship with Billie.

The gambler is a 1974 American drama about a literature professor who portrays an upstanding citizen’s image caught in the clutches of a severe gambling addiction which threatens to destroy his life. His high rolling bets land him in trouble and pits him against his worst enemies.

It is directed by Karel Weiz and is written by James Toback. The film stars James Caan, Paul Sorvino and Lauren Hutton.

The Main Story

Axel Freed ( James Caan ) is an English Professor at Harvard University who has a gambling addiction that spirals out of control.

He continues to gamble until finally, he has loan sharks knocking down his door for debts he cannot pay. He is out of options and borrows $44,000 from his mother. However, he doesn’t use it to pay the loan sharks, but instead goes to Vegas and gambles it all on basketball bets.

In desperation, he lures one of his students a star college basketball player to shave points off his next game. The student agrees to the scheme as Axel offered him a large sum of money. The game goes according to plan and Axel wins enough money to pay the loan sharks.

The Ending

In the end, Axel admits that he could have placed bets on sure winners, but that would have been no fun. He liked the dangerous side of gambling and even did reckless things like not paying a prostitute for her services to get the pimp to come after him. This gave him an adrenaline rush.

The Gambler is the story of a gambling addict’s impasse. It leaves viewers with valuable lessons and many thought-provoking reflections as it highlights the destructive nature of not knowing when to quit.

There was a remake of The Gambler in 2014 which starred Mark Wahlberg.

Owning Mahowny is a Canadian film about the effects of gambling addiction. It was directed by Richard Kwietniowski and released in 2003. The cast includes Minnie Driver, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Hurt and Maury Chaykin.

It is based on a true story about a Bank Employee who embezzled more than $10 million from a Toronto Bank to feed his gambling addiction.

The Main Story

In the early 80s, Dan Mohowny (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a trusted employee at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Over time he is promoted to Branch Manager, which means he has access to large sums of money.

His Boss trusts him and has no idea that Mahowny is a compulsive gambler. However, Mahowny was gambling every week at Atlantic City casinos with the bank’s money. The casino management considered him to be a High Roller and wined and dined him.

Like all gambling addiction, the amounts started getting bigger and bigger to recoup his losses. However, the bank did not find out about the theft until the Toronto police began to investigate Mahowny’s bookie Frank (Maury Chaykin).

Mahowney was subsequently arrested and prosecuted in Canada by the Crown Attorney. He received a six-year prison sentence. The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce also sued the Atlantic City casinos to recover the funds Mahowney spent. There was an out of court settlement for an undisclosed sum.

The Ending

Dan Mahowney served his full six years prison sentence and has not gambled since his release. He is now married with three children and works as a Financial Consultant.

The difference between this movie and other gambling-related movies is that Owning Mahoney concentrated on the gambling addiction and not on the glitz and glamour of the casino life.

However, it turned out to be a box office flop as the movie only made $1 million but cost $10 million to produce.