Casino Industry in the World of Pop Culture
Pop culture is an umbrella term for what’s hip with the current generation. It encompasses a bunch of elements nowadays. Games, films and books, and comics make up pop culture, as they have done so in the past. But the kinds of elements will depend on the generation and additional generations. You can’t put a cap on it as it keeps changing.
Pop culture is a phenomenon that takes inspiration from various sources which is why it takes on different shapes. Some of the inspiration comes from the casino industry. Casino players are members of pop culture, which is why they influence it. They visit land-based casinos and even online casino sites to enjoy their favorite games. They might be going for the best online casinos for real money in 2023 or for specific sites that cover specific needs.
Regardless of that, the casino industry has influenced pop culture and continues to do so. You can see this explicitly in gaming, films, and literature. There’s something inspirational about it that has made casinos and pop culture stick together for some time.
The world of gaming is pretty vast. It deals with a bunch of themes, periods, and features. Although most games are online nowadays, single-player games show you just how casinos and the industry have influenced the world of gaming.
Certain casino games have made it into video games where players can enjoy them as in-game titles. One such example would be the ability to play blackjack, roulette, and poker as well as slot machines in Fallout New Vegas. There are a few casinos that players can enter, and if they play their cards right, they can get extra gear, bullets, food, drinks, and more.
The New Vegas titles illustrate another example as casinos or casino cities can be important locations in a game. Vegas is the setting for the Fallout title, and players can visit the casinos. Alternatively, players could visit casinos, like in the GTA franchise, simply because they are available as locations.
Other games feature casino games to portray a period better. For example, Red Dead Redemption II is set during the Wild West era when poker and blackjack were popular games played at saloons and hotels. That’s why you can visit certain places in the game and enjoy a hand at both games.
Certain casino games have also inspired developers to create in-game card games. For example, there’s Pazaak in Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, which was based on blackjack. But the influence between casinos and gaming is mutual.
In other words, the world of gaming has influenced the world of casinos. It has made it a competitive place where players can see their scores on scoreboards. Moreover, gamification has prompted iGaming developers to put different game levels. Certain slot titles even play as RPGs rather than slots, showing you the relationship between both worlds is tight.
Similar to games, films tell stories of all kinds of characters. Heroes, anti-heroes, and villains are parts of major movies; some just happen to do something with casinos. The casino industry in Vegas has a bit of a dark past, as certain casinos were linked to the Italian mob. This is illustrated in several film classics.
The most obvious one is the one in Casino. The mob sends one of their men to a casino to manage it better. The Godfather franchise has a link to Vegas as the Corleone crime family moves there after New York isn’t safe for them anymore.
Aside from crime, certain games and their players are so popular that they deserve their own movies. The MIT Blackjack Team went to Vegas and made it big because of counting cards. Hence the film 21. Then you have a film like Rounders that focuses on poker and a bunch of other films that feature certain casino games and even casinos as locations for the film. The Ocean’s franchise is a pretty good example of this as their films feature many casinos.
The world of literature has also seen an influence from the world of casinos. The world of comic books features a certain X-man that likes playing casino games. The man in question is called Gambit, and he’s often depicted as discharging cards at opponents. When it comes to more classic examples, you can turn to none other than Dostoyevsky.
One of the greatest writers of all time liked visiting casinos and one of his favorite games was roulette. So, it’s no surprise that his first novel is called The Gambler and features a character that likes playing the game in question. In conclusion, these are a few examples of how connected the casino industry and pop culture are. The influence is obvious, and it’s clear that the relationship is a fruitful one. As pop culture advances further, as do casinos, the influence will bring about new children for future generations.