While most believe gambling to be just a means to earn money, the fundamental idea behind it is entertainment. The gambling craze has touched sky heights with the availability of the numerous online 5-dollar deposit casino 2022. Many TV shows have used this idea of entertainment across their episodes many times. Some shows are solely based on gambling, while others involve glimpses of casinos within the show.
Let’s rewind and check out 6 top casino-related episodes from some prominent TV shows. They are:
- Friends – ‘The One In Vegas’
- The Simpsons – ‘$pringfield’
- South Park – ‘Red Man’s Greed’
- Star Trek: The Next Generation
- Bones – ‘The Eye in the Sky’
- Curb Your Enthusiasm
Are Casinos Used to Attract More Viewers?
You might be wondering why there are casino episodes placed in TV shows? We can think of different reasons for this. It’s safe to say that most people have no experience with casinos, be it online or land-based, for legit reasons. The biggest fear is losing money which can even lead to massive debt. That is why people choose to take a peek inside the casino through the screen.
Deep within, everyone has a side that wants to experience the rush of adrenaline and action. Gambling is a guaranteed way to feel the energy. Watching shows with casino episodes is like experiencing a second-hand adrenaline rush where you have no fear of losing money while enjoying the casino ambience. Check also the reasons to choose legal casinos.
Here are the top 6 episodes from TV shows where casinos play a major part.
1. Friends – ‘The One In Vegas’
‘Friends’ is one of the most popular TV shows with casino episodes. The double finale episode, ‘The One In Vegas’ of Season 5, involves casino scenes that are too funny. In this episode, the gang travels to Las Vegas to spend some exciting gambling moments in the Caesar’s Palace casino. While Monica and Chandler get engaged at a betting table in the casino, fans are shocked after watching the end of the episode when Rachel and Ross get married at a Vegas chapel on a drunken whim. Meanwhile, Joey finds his twin hand.
There’s another hilarious moment where Phoebe is followed in the casino by an older woman so she can seize Phoebe’s seat at the slot machine to win more money. The scene was funny, but slot machines don’t work like that. These finale episodes were refreshingly different as they were set in Vegas than the typical New York location.
2. The Simpsons – ‘$pringfield (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalised Gambling)’
‘The Simpsons’ is one of the longest-running and most popular animated American sitcoms that has been around for 33 years now. The show has portrayed different aspects of life throughout its history. Among them, one of the most well-known episodes is ‘$pringfield (Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Legalised Gambling)’ from Season 5.
This episode tells the story of Mr. Burns starting a casino after Springfield legalised gambling. Homer is seen as a blackjack dealer in this episode. With the episode unfolding, Merge becomes hooked on gambling and abandons her family to spend all her time at Mr. Burns’ casino. We then see how Merge slowly accepts her gambling addiction and works on it to move forward. Simpsons fans highly regard this episode as a classic because the show portrays a serious topic while maintaining the usual humour.
Here’s a fun fact! The show’s creator, Matt Groening, chose Springfield (a city in the state of Oregon) for this episode, where casinos are legal only on tribal property in this state. However, online casinos are still entirely illegal here despite the rest of the nation gradually legalising gambling. Read also about Ameristar’s Blackhawk Casino, the largest casino in Colorado opened.
3. South Park – ‘Red Man’s Greed’
‘Red Man’s Greed’ is one of the wackies tcasino episodes from South Park, Season 7. All the characters go to a casino on Native American territory in this episode. The Native Americans buy out the whole town of South Park after Kyle’s gambling addict father lost his house to a game of blackjack. The Native Americans are then seen demolishing the city to build a superhighway that would connect Denver to their casino.
As the episode rolls on, we find that the residents of South Park need to raise $300,000 by pooling everyone’s money on a game of roulette to save their town. Sadly, they lose again, leaving Cartman, Kyle, Kenny, and Stan to come to their rescue.
4. Star Trek: The Next Generation
Did you notice that poker was a frequent element on Star Trek: The Next Generation? We can find it in several episodes of this popular TV show. There’s a scene where Data, Commander William T. Riker and others are playing Five-Card Stud. Data being an Android lifeform finds the game easy because his strategy involves calculation and determining the opponent’s hand based on their bets. However, he doesn’t include bluffing in his method. It leaves him getting bluffed while he still had three queens.
Like most TV shows, Star Trek more accurately portrays the casino episodes here. The players are seen making their decisions after thoroughly analysing their cards. Data was, of course, the humour element as he tried calculating both by checking if Commander Riker had his poker face on and the poker odds.
5. Bones – ‘The Eye in the Sky’
‘The Eye In The Sky’ is the 15th episode of Bones, Season 10. This episode is quite significant for detective Seeley Booth, the show’s main character. A victim of homicide is found connected to an underground poker gang, and Booth has to join the poker games to unravel the murder mystery.
The significance of the episode lies in Booth’s relapsing gambling addiction that he must try to fight. The episode aptly portrays the struggle of an addict and how it affects everyone around them.
6. Curb Your Enthusiasm
Another TV show that portrayed a poker game quite accurately is Curb Your Enthusiasm. In one episode, Julia Louis-Dreyfus is seen bluff other players in the game out of the biggest pot of that evening. Larry David finds it fishy and goes around the table to check other people’s hands. He finds that one of the players decided to fold the Ace-high he had. Larry calls the player out, and an argument ensues.
The game shown in the episode is pretty much on the spot. Players went around the table. While two players had favourable cards, others didn’t feel confident about their hands. Julia’s seat being last in the order helped her win the specific round.
We can confidently say that viewers receive the casino episodes with much delight because of the tense ambience it creates and, in some cases, the comedy created around these shows.