Editing Never Split Tens (movie prospectus) (section)

==Gambling and the Gambling Movie Genre==

===The Gambling Industry===

By many measures, gambling is among the top “industries,” both in the United States and internationally.  This reflects the apparently innate desire of human beings to take risk for both enjoyment and as an attempt to gain riches.  The proliferation of state lotteries, which is simply the legalized (that is, taxable) reincarnation of the Capone-era numbers racket, casinos, and internet gambling attest to this drive, along with other types of wagering such as sports betting, both legal and illegal, other forms of illegal wagering such as office pools, neighborhood bookmaking, and home poker parties, horse racing, and bingo parlors and bingo nights at fraternal organizations and retirement communities.

A survey conducted by the Gallup organization for Psychology Today magazine showed that nearly 1 in 4 American men and 1 in 8 American women can be expected to gamble in some way on the Super Bowl (Ref. 1), with documented as opposed to illegal and office betting at $100 million (Ref. 2), similar to the amount bet on the Kentucky Derby (Ref. 3).  Furthermore, according to the report by the federal Commission on the Review of the National Policy Toward Gambling, two-thirds of all Americans have gambled in one form or another (Ref. 1).   Individual state statistics show that many Americans bet 1% of their income on state lotteries alone (Ref. 4).

Gambling occurs in casinos, sports betting, racing, on the internet, and in bingo games.  Much of the gambling is illegal, particularly in sports betting.  The table summarizes estimates of the amount of money wagered in the various forms of gambling.   The sources upon which these estimates are based are provided in the references at the end of the Prospectus. 



Form of Gambling	Estimated Amount Wagered
(U.S. only; billions of $)	References 
Employed
Commercial Casinos	$530 (2011)	5, 6
Indian Casinos	$457 (2011) 	7
Internet Casinos	 $110 (2011)	7, 8
State Lotteries	$125	4, 9
Illegal Sports Betting	$250 (estimate)	10, 1
Other Illegal Betting	$250 (estimate)		  1
Horse Racing	$13	3
Bingo	$4	anecdotal
TOTAL	$1739	
U.S. Wagering In Various Forms Of Gambling


It is important to note that the internet gambling portion of these wagers may soon triple.  Before passage of the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (“UIGEA”), the United States had been the dominant internet gambling market in the world, accounting for 50% of global Internet gambling revenue in 2006.  Since the passage of UIGEA, Europe has become the dominant region, accounting for 44% of global revenue, followed by Asia (25%) and the U.S. and Canada (24%).  It is expected that the domestic market would resume the dominant position  if UIGEA is repealed  (Ref. 7).

We find that at least $1.7 trillion is spent on gambling by Americans each year, an astounding total.   Gambling, and by implication, fascination with gambling and those who gamble successfully, is an undeniable and significant aspect of human nature.  The 2012 gross domestic product, the total amount of domestic production of all goods and services, is approximately $15.6 trillion.  Although a disproportionate amount is wagered by “high-rollers,” professional gamblers, and those with gambling addictions, these figures demonstrate that the amount of money Americans spend on gambling in its various forms is at least about 11% of the GDP, about $1 for every $9 generated by the domestic American economy!

This estimate was in fact confirmed by the 2011 report of the American Gaming Association.  Sixty million people, one in every four adults, visited a casino in the thirty-eight states in which casinos are legal and their wagers account for nearly 1% of the national economy, $1.6 trillion.
(Chapman, Steve, “Freedom to gamble,” Chicago Tribune, March 4, 2013, p. 25)
The nature of the game of 21, which is prominent in the Motion Picture, is discussed in Appendix D.

===The Gambling Genre of Motion Pictures===

It is not surprising, then, that gambling is one of the most popular topics for motion pictures.  More than 125 titles related to gambling have been produced and distributed internationally.   Many of Hollywood’s biggest stars have been attracted to the genre to be cast in lead roles, including Paul Newman, Robert Redford, James Caan, Tom Cruise, Richard Dreyfuss, Edward G.  Robinson, Dustin Hoffman, George Clooney, the Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin) both as a group and individually, Bing Crosby, Peter Falk , Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, James Garner, James Coburn, Cary Grant, Robert Mitchum, Angie Dickinson, Julia Roberts, and Steve McQueen.  

The lure of gambling has enabled some of these motion pictures to become blockbuster successes (gross revenues exceeding $100 million). Among individual motion pictures, the James Bond series of films incorporates casino gambling as an essential plot element, the Maverick television series and the motion picture of the same name featured gambling, and the motion picture Mr. Lucky was turned into a television series.

The table provides budgets and grosses for motion pictures in the gambling genre for which production budgets and gross revenue figures could be obtained.   The return is calculated in percent as (gross-budget)/budget x 100.  Some notable gambling motion pictures for which these figures are not available are also listed.

Representative Motion Pictures in the Gambling Genre

Film	Year1	Stars1	Budget2	Gross2	Return3
The Color of Money	1986	Paul Newman, Tom Cruise	$13.8 	$52.34  	280%
21	2008	Kevin Spacey	$35.0	$157.9	350%
The Hustler	1961	Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, George C. Scott	$2.1	$7.6	260%
The Cincinnati Kid	1965	Steve McQueen, Edward G. Robinson, Ann-Margret	-	-	
Let It Ride	1989	Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr	$5 	-	
The Gambler	1974	James Caan, Lauren Hutton	-	-	
The Sting	1973	Paul Newman, Robert Redford	$5.5	$159.64	2800%
Robin and the 7 Hoods	1964	Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Bing Crosby, Peter Falk, Edward G. Robinson	-	-	
Ocean’s Eleven	2001	George Clooney, Brad Pitt, 
Julia Roberts	$85.0	$450.7	430%
Ocean’s 11	1960	The Rat Pack, Angie Dickinson	-	-	
Rain Man	1988	Tom Cruise,  Dustin Hoffman	$25.0	$412.8	1550%
5 Card Stud	1968	Dean Martin, Robert Mitchum	-	-	
5 Against the House	1955	Kim Novak			
Maverick	1994	James Garner, James Coburn, Jodie Foster,  Mel Gibson	-	$1834	
Mr. Lucky	1943	Cary Grant, Laraine Day			
1 Data obtained from www.imdb.com and www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/.

2 Figures in millions. Box office revenues only.  Data obtained from boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=maverick.htm,  www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/domestic.htm, imdb database, and www.the-numbers.com.
3 Calculated as (gross-budget)/budget
4 Domestric gross only.  Others are worldwide gross.