Obsessed with betting? These are the movies for you

For people who get a real rush of adrenalin when they have a bet on a game or sports fixture that they’re watching, it’s great when you can find movies that have a similar theme in the plot.

Today, almost no-one places their bets in the traditional way; down at the bookies. You can bet on your computer or mobile, using one of the many different betting apps. For the more serious bettors amongst us, there are even specific betting trading apps like Betpractice score grid for football which help manage multiple markets at once.

How times have changed since the following movies were released – when the only way to place a bet was at the bookies, at the races or over the phone. For a bit of betting nostalgia, check out one of these movies.

Owning Mahowny

Sports betting features in this 2003 movie; if only as a sub-plot. Owning Mahowny is a fictionalised version of the real-life story of Brian Molony, a Canadian bank clerk who embezzled millions of dollars to fund his weekends of gambling in Atlantic City – until he got caught. When he’s at the giddy peak of his addiction in the movie, he tries to back every away team and every home team in the National League and the American League at once. Philip Seymour Hoffman is the perfect choice for the main role.

Let it Ride

Richard Dreyfuss stars in the 1989 comedy film, Let it Ride, and he’s cast as a gambler who is a regular loser at the race track. He’s a hard drinker and smoker and his life is basically a mess. However, he suddenly gets an incredible run of luck one day that seems like it will last forever. Let it Ride gives us a glimpse of the thought processes that go on inside a true gambler’s head.

Eight Men Out

Back in 1919, eight of the Chicage White Sox team collaborated with gamblers to fix the 1919 World Series of Major League Baseball, by deliberately losing. Though they weren’t found out immediately, what they’d done came to light a couple of years later and all eight went on trial for their part in the scam. Eight Men Out is a 1988 movie that follows the trial and stars John Cusack, Christopher Lloyd, Michael Lerner and Charlie Sheen.