Casinos are not just for men, especially not these days, yet when you picture the archetypal casino player, they always seem to be stereotypically male. The image of the traditional casino going man comes with a certain style – a sharp suit or dinner jacket, a crisp white shirt, a perfectly tied bow tie with slick, sweeping hair and sparkling black shoes to match.
It is not just this – the style transcends the look; these men walk with a certain swagger, a walk of confident class. This all comes from experience of course, from either local gambling with neighbouring businessmen willing to jeopardise their wife’s car through to online blackjack players at Jackpot Capital, learning to walk it like they talk it. The graduate’s demeanour matches their outfits, they are suave, confident and cool through and through. They are men who never look unsure of themselves, are always in control. These men get the action on and off the playing floor.
When you think of them, you think of Hollywood, and that is because a large portion of this imagery has been built up, influenced and inspired by those films and characters. Of these, Bond himself, in all his casting guises, is perhaps the most iconic. Daniel Craig is known for being the most rough and ready Bond yet, but in Casino Royale he still pulled off the look with perfection. Sean Connery was smoother than Daniel, but Roger Moore, constantly adjusting his cufflinks even outdid Piece Brosnan for acting out the true babe magnet.
There are many others. Danny Ocean (played by George Clooney) and Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) are the stars of Steven Soderbergh’s 2001 remake of Ocean’s Eleven, and whilst Clooney gives off the archetypal suave look with consummate ease, Pitt’s character is a little more daring, opting for lighter coloured suits and big, statement collars. Of course, they are not really in Vegas’ casinos to gamble, but to rob them. They still have to look the part though.
Martin Scorsese’s 1995 film Casino sees Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci play gambling handicapper Sam “Ace” Rothstein and Mob enforcer Nick Santoro respectively. As you would expect from De Niro and Pesci characters, they unmistakeably nail the gangster look. Whilst their dress is very similar to the likes of Bond, they give off an altogether different vibe and create a different sort of fascination. There is an appeal in imitating Bond because he is the ultimate male hero (well, without superpowers anyhow), but there is also a draw in imitating the likes of “Ace” Rothstein and the thrill that comes with it.
Whilst the super-slick dress sense is almost always the same, different characters have carried the look in different ways. Between them they have shaped our image of the ideal casino playing man – always smart, always confident, but not always with the same interests at heart.
