The Last Casino

The Last Casino is a 2004 Canadian television film on the subject of card counting. This movie draws heavily from the ideas espoused in the book Bringing Down the House.

Mathematics professor Doug Barnes has big problems. He is seriously addicted to gambling, and is heavily in debt to a vicious gangster (the Usurer). Barnes has been banned from his local casino, and the Usurer wants his money back. Barnes has only one card left up his sleeve.

Professor Barnes is paid an unexpected call at his university office by the Usurer. Barnes explains he has had a bad patch; but the Usurer wants his money. Barnes quickly comes up with the idea of forming "a team" of card counters, telling the Usurer "It's the only way you'll get your money back". At this, the Usurer snips the tip off the professor's little finger as a warning to pay the debt; but tells him he will consider the proposal. Barnes goes ahead and recruits three of the brightest, if mostly impoverished students from the university, luring them in with the promise of $1,000 per night each for "doing a little math". He then goes ahead and teaches them the art of card counting. Whilst initially highly successful, the three of them soon begin to succumb to the tempation easy money presents, and the pressure is soon on them to raise the money necessary to pay the professor's debts.