Casino Jack Movie Review – Based on a True Story
Casino Jack is a movie based on the true story of Jack Allan Abramoff – an infamous American businessman and super-lobbyist who was involved in a massive fraud related to Native American casinos. The events unravelled in the early 00s and have led to 24 convictions and an amendment to The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995. Read our full Casino Jack movie review to learn more about the film’s cast, plot, trailer, and the real life of Jack Abramoff.
Casino Jack Film – Details and Interesting Facts
The Casino Jack film was released in 2010 and received highly controversial opinions from critics and the public. As you can see in the table below, the film ratings are very far from ideal. Many found it disappointing, failing to authentically represent the true events it is based on. Others, however, praised the actors’ performance and considered the movie convincing and entertaining. One thing is for sure – Casino Jack has a remarkable cast, which we will discuss a bit later in our review.
| 🎦 Released | 2010 |
| 🏢 Distributor | ATO Pictures |
| 💰 Budget | $12,500,000 |
| 💸 Box Office | $1,100,000 |
| 📺 Genre | Biography, Comedy, Crime |
| 🎬 Directors | George Hickenlooper |
| ✍️ Writers | Norman Snider |
| 👨 Actors | Kevin Spacey, Kelly Preston, Barry Pepper |
| 🎞️ Running Time | 1h 48 min |
| ✅ IMDb | 6.2/10 |
| 🍅 Rotten Tomatoes | 39% |
| 🍿 Metacritic | 51% |
The film was produced by Gary Howsam, Bill Marks, and George Zakk. Dolby Digital was responsible for the sound mix. Casino Jack was shot predominantly in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The movie was not a huge box office success. On the contrary, the Casino Jack film grossed $1,100,000 in revenue as opposed to the $12,500,000 spent on making it.
Casino Jack Cast – A Remarkable Selection
Next in our Casino Jack movie review, we are going to discuss the Casino Jack cast. Kevin Spacey was cast to play the leading role of Jack Abramoff. For his role, the actor was nominated for Golden Globe Award for “Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy”. Late actress Kelly Preston portrayed his wife, Pamela Abramoff, to whom he has been married since 1986. The couple has five children together.
Next to God, faith, and country…nothing is more important than influence – political influence. – Jack Abramoff, played by Kevin Spacey in Casino Jack
Barry Pepper plays Michael Scanlon, public relations executive and former communications director for Republican Rep. Tom DeLay. Scanlon was Abramoff’s partner in the 00’s lobbying scandal. Casino Jack also features John Lovitz as Adam Kidan, Graham Green as Bernie Sprague, and Spencer Garrett as Tom DeLay.
Plot and Casino Jack Movie Trailer
As previously mentioned, Casino Jack is based on true events. The political satire tells the story of the highly influential Washington D.C. super-lobbyist and businessman Jack Abramoff. Along with his business partner and protégé Michael Scanlon, Abramoff lobbied for Native American tribes looking to develop casino gambling on their territories. As the movie unfolds, the pair gets deeper and deeper into their fraudulent activities to the point of delusion. Things start to fall apart and deteriorate rather quickly. Make sure to watch the Casino Jack movie trailer at the link below:
The True Story Behind the Casino Jack Film
In real life, Abramoff and Scanlon used comprehensive deceitful schemes to charge different tribes, including the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, the Louisiana Coushatta tribe, and the Texas Tigua Pueblo tribal entity, for their lobbying services in Washington D.C. For instance, Abramoff assisted Louisiana Coushatta to prevent a bill from allowing the Tigua to open their own casino, which was successful and resulted in the Tigua casino being closed in 2002.
Subsequently, after taking money from the Coushatta tribe for their services, Abramoff and Scanlon proceeded to contact Tigua and sign a $4,200,000 contract to help “right the wrong” the tribe has endured and lobby for the reopening of the Native American casino they helped close. The duo even organised lobbying activities against their own clients to make them pay additional amounts. In total, Abramoff and Scanlon took more than $85,000,000 in fees out of which a relatively small portion was used for actual work-related activities and the rest was split between the two partners.
In 2000, along with Adam Kidan, a businessman and former president of Atlantic & Pacific Mattress Co., Abramoff partnered up to buy the SunCruz casinos from Gus Boulis (played by Daniel Kash in the movie). They used a fake wire transfer to deceive lenders that they have made a down payment of $23,000,000, so they qualify for a $60,000,000 loan. At a certain point, the mafia gets involved in Abramoff’s shady deals, which ends up with the murder of Gus Boulis in 2001.
Ultimately Abramoff pleaded guilty and was convicted of conspiracy, fraud, and tax evasion related to his Washington D.C. lobbying activities and the unlawful acquiring of the SunCruz casinos. In 2005, both Abramoff and Kidan were sentenced to spend nearly six years in prison and pay $21,700,000 in restitution fees to the clients they have defrauded.
Michael Scanlon took a plea deal agreeing to testify against Abramoff in any future criminal cases and pay $19,600,000 to former tribal lobbying clients. Twenty-four people were convicted in the Abramoff case, including some high-ranking Bush administration officials. The most famous among them is James Steven Griles – an American coal industry lobbyist and the United States Deputy Secretary of the Interior (2001-2004).
Casino Jack Full Movie Online
Casino Jack was released over ten years ago. It has been available on different streaming platforms throughout the years, but unfortunately, this is no longer the case. As of the time of writing our movie review, you can watch the Casino Jack full movie online on Amazon Prime only. Make sure to keep an eye out for the movie on your favourite platforms. We, on the other hand, are going to keep you posted in case of any updates.
If you like movies including gambling, we recommend that you also watch 21 and Molly’s Game. Both movies are based on true stories. The movie 21 tells the story of six MIT students who become some of the best card counters and win millions from a string of Vegas casinos. Molly’s Game tells the true story of Molly Bloom.
Final Words and Where is Abramoff Nowadays
Our Casino Jack movie review is coming to an end. We discussed the film’s plot, cast, rating and other information, as well as the true story it is based on. In our article, we also mentioned where you could watch Casino Jack full movie online. We would like to conclude the topic with a few interesting details about Jack Abramoff’s recent life. Following his release from prison in 2010, he was transferred to a halfway house until the end of his six-year sentence.
He then proceeded to operate as a lobbyist until 2020, when Abramoff was charged with fraud regarding a $5 million cryptocurrency deal case. He took a plea deal and pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and violating the Lobbying Disclosure Act facing five years in prison for each of them. Abramoff’s current net worth is negative $44,000,000.
Frequently Asked Questions
We hope our Casino Jack movie review has been interesting and managed to provide useful insights about the movie and the true story of Jack Abramoff. If you still have some questions, make sure to have a look at our detailed and helpful FAQ section below.
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