It has been seven years since the release of Casino Confidential on TVtropolis, and memories of the reality series set in Binion’s Gambling Hall and Hotel in Las Vegas live long in the hearts of Canadian casino fans. The documentary series only ran for ten episodes, but its success in the North American country led TLC to pick it up and broadcast it to USA citizens. In the years since 2012, the gambling industry has boomed further. Indeed, revenues have surpassed $45 billion and are continuing to grow exponentially. Now could be the perfect time to revisit Binion’s, or perhaps create a similar series. Canadians, who love gambling and reality TV, would be sure to be grateful for a sequel.
What Was Casino Confidential About?
Casino Confidential was a fly-on-the-wall documentary centred on the players and staff at Binion’s Gambling Hall and Hotel, a bustling Las Vegas hotspot. The aim of the series was to provide viewers with a number of different perspectives within the casino. In the early episodes, there was heavy focus on one of the blackjack dealers. These are key staff members, and they need to have specific knowledge and training in order to do their jobs. When playing online, players can refer to information pages such as the Betway online blackjack guide. It tells them what to do in certain situations, such as when to double and split and how. When you’re playing in a land-based casino though, it is down to the dealer to give advice to players on what to do. For this reason, blackjack dealers are fountains of knowledge about the game in addition to great people skills.
By putting an emphasis on the dealers and croupiers, Casino Confidential was able to show a wide range of different customers sitting and playing the games at Binion’s. The Nevada city is renowned for attracting an eclectic mix of clientele, who come from all over the world. Over 42 million people visit Las Vegas each year, and all these different visitors from far-flung corners of the Earth make for interesting viewing. Some of the other segments of the documentary followed the dining staff, security, and the famous cowgirls who operate some of the table games.
Casino Confidential went down well in Canada, but it wasn’t to everyone’s taste. It pulled no punches and showed both the good and bad sides of the day-to-day running of a casino. When it aired in the USA, it wasn’t quite as popular. This is perhaps part of why the show wasn’t renewed for another season.
Canada Has a Lot of Similar Programming
Casino Confidential was always going to go down well in Canada, as Canadians love reality television. In fact, there have been 145 different reality TV shows on various networks throughout the 2010s. Big Brother Canada and Property Brothers are both vastly popular among the population.
Property Brothers from Cineflix has been running for 136 episodes since 2011 on W Network initially and then HGTV Canada from 2017. The series, which features Drew and Jonathan Scott as real estate and renovation experts, averages 2 million viewers per week and is one of the highest-rated shows on the network. It has sprouted a franchise which includes a web series, short films, an app and a radio show. Meanwhile, Big Brother Canada has been through seven editions since first airing in 2013. The series which is now hosted by Global has been consistently viewed by an average of over 1 million people per season since 2015.
These successful programs show how popular reality TV is in Canada and suggest that there is a market for more of the same. If another casino show was to come about, it could decide to take elements from these highly viewed shows. Big Brother has an element of competition to it, which could easily be replicated in the gaming scene. Property Brothers is all about turning ramshackle residences into extravagant abodes. This could be done with rundown casinos as well. Perhaps there’s a gap in the market for an Apprentice-style competition to see who can create and run the best casino?
What Other Casino-Based TV Series Have Been Successful?
Despite being one of the most popular pastimes in the world, casinos haven’t been represented well in television. There have been other documentaries such as The Player: Secrets of a Vegas Whale, and Bet Raise Fold, but none have been worldwide hits.
Las Vegas is one of the most notable series to have taken place in a casino. The series starred James Caan as head of operations at a fictional casino on The Strip. It was hugely popular, and lasted for five seasons before being cancelled by NBC. The series focused on the glitz and glamour of the casino world but also featured plenty of intrigue and action.
Casino Confidential may not be getting resurrected, but it does seem as though the time is ripe for a similar series. There have been a lot of developments in the industry since the documentary aired, and it would be interesting to see advancements in technology, such as virtual reality games, depicted on television. There is always a market for reality television in Canada, and something that involves gambling is sure to be well received.
