Theroux With Slot Machines

Louis Theroux’s latest film could not have come at a better time. With all of the uproar in the UK over who got the supercasino, and who got smaller casinos, and who got no slot machines at all – Theroux’s film about gambling is pure inspiration.

Theroux’s first film regarding slot machines and gambling is the first one to be aired on the BBC2, with the rest following suit over the 2007 year. He heads off to Las Vegas and starts at the Hilton Hotel and Casino where he meets several of Hilton’s best customers. One loses around $160,000 a visit, so he gets to stay in the hotel’s top suite for free. Boy, those casinos sure are generous.

Then he meets a retired doctor, who the casino paid for her husband’s memorial service when he died – that’s how well they treat her. Never mind that she has lost more than $4 million in their slot machines – I am sure that has nothing to do with it.

He then moves on to a pair of gents who have already lost $24,000 when he gets to them, and they continue to gamble saying that they know that they will turn it around. The only thing they end up doing is losing more money.

Theroux spends 36 hours inside the slot machine casino gambling, and he shows how desperate and sad the life of the gambler is. When they are on top they never quit – its only when they are at the bottom and are forced to that they actually walk away.


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