By the time you get to the end of this blog, you’ll be humming at least one of the featured top casino songs and searching on music streaming platforms for others you may not know or remember so well. Gambling as a reference point features in literally hundreds of songs. Some just use gambling terms as metaphors or allude to specific cards or games whilst others tell an entire story of winners and losers.
Something tells us that many of those characters featured in the songs would have been a whole lot safer and happier staying home and playing online casino games. They might have even done really well at live dealer casinos playing with a live dealer online.
1. The Gambler – Kenny Rogers
They don’t come more straight-talking than this 1978 hit from Kenny Rogers. The advice from a stranger on a train to the gambler telling the story gave us the immortal lines “Know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em” and “You never count your money when you’re sittin’ at the table.” Definitely an all-time classic.
2. Rambling, Gambling Willie – Bob Dylan
This is a song about a fair and honest gambler, Will O’Conley, who sadly meets his fate at the hands of a sore loser. A father of 27 children but husband to no one, Willie takes care of them all, as well as the sick and poor. A prolific winner in his time gambling up and down the country, when he’s shot dead, he’s holding the “dead man’s hand” of aces and eights.
3. The Card Cheat – The Clash
The gambler in this 1979 song from The Clash’s “London Calling” album is a whole lot less honorable than Dylan’s Willie O’Conley and is shot dead at the table after the dealer finds him cheating. Play by the rules, guys. This song has a salutary lesson in its lyrics.
4. Gambling Man, Lonnie Donegan
A 1957 hit for skiffle artist Lonnie Donegan, this song was written more than 10 years earlier by Woody Guthrie. The gambling man of the title has played across the country from Washington to Maine and everywhere in between, but love deals him the ultimate hand and he’s stopped in his tracks by a pretty woman in Washington. Now they stay home together and play online roulette and online slots.
5. Still the Same – Bob Seger
Who knows if Lonnie Donegan’s gambler really did stop and settle down in Washington, but the subject of Bob Seger’s “Still the Same” is unchanged by the end of the song — a gambler who can’t walk away. Not surprising given the opening lines, “You always won every time you placed a bet, you’re still damn good, no one’s gotten to you yet.” Long may his luck continue.
6. Easy Money – Billy Joel
The narrator of Billy Joel’s song is looking to make easy money at the track, at a fight and at the tables. He believes “someone’s got a fortune that they’re begging me to take” — but a fool and his money are easily parted; it’s likely Billy Joel’s guy who hands his fortune over. There’s probably no such thing as easy money, but everyone can have fun trying when they play at a casino online.
7. Deal – Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia’s gambler has seen a thing or two in the “ten good solid years” he’s been playing. In fact, if he told us his stories, they would “burn our ears off,” but he just about sums up how it goes — “It costs a lot to win, and even more to lose.” Ain’t that the truth.
8. Ace of Spades – Motörhead
This song’s narrator is chasing the ultimate high-stakes card as the lyrics pay homage to the ace of spades. This guy gambles for the pleasure of hunting down his quarry as he plays for “the high one” — but don’t forget the joker, he sings. Or the high one might just be jackpot slots. If heavy metal isn’t your thing, there’s a Hayseed Dixie version of this song worth listening to.
9. Mr Mudd & Mr Gold – Townes van Zandt
This song is pretty technical in its lyrics and sounds like a playbook from a classic poker game. The two players, Mudd and Gold, raise and call each other in a tense game in which, despite the malevolent king of club’s best efforts at calling the shots, the ace of diamonds gives Mudd the win.
10. Black Queen, Stephen Stills
Stephen Stills’ 1970 song states right at the opening, “This is a song about a card game,” so we think the lyrics are pretty self-explanatory. Here, the black queen’s bluff is being called by the aces, which are always high!
11. The Dealer – Stevie Nicks
Although this song was written in 1979, it remained unreleased until 2014 when it appeared on Nicks’s “24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault” album. The dealer of the song asserts that she was the “mistress of her fate,” but listening to the lyrics, it’s hard to be sure that she really believed it. Despite holding the cards, she sings, “If I’d known a little more, I’d a run away.” Live dealers online never run away, of that you can be sure.
12. Go Down Gamblin’ – Blood, Sweat & Tears
Sounds like the “born natural loser” of this song certainly spent a lot of blood, sweat and tears at the tables, but maybe hopes he’ll be saved by the love of the good woman. A certain lady who features in the song calls him “a natural lover.” Well, they do say that love conquers all. If you’re looking to inject a little romance into your life, think about a date night, either out on the town or snuggled up at home having some fun and playing online.
13. Luck Be a Lady – Frank Sinatra
No list of casino songs could be complete without mentioning Frank Sinatra, who is synonymous with Las Vegas and the Rat Pack scene. Those guys played a lot of casino table games. The song is a call to Lady Luck never to leave his side, but she serves more than one master and is called to be in many places at once.
14. Viva Las Vegas – Elvis Presley
Perhaps even more closely associated with Vegas than Old Blue Eyes is Elvis Presley, who played more than 600 shows there and who still ranks among the most highly-paid artists in the history of the strip. “If you see it once, you’ll never be the same again,” he sings and anyone who’s ever been there will attest to that.
Honorable Mentions
A number of songs have titles that sound like they should be about gambling but actually aren’t. They’re worth a mention, though, just for their associations with casinos. These songs include Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face,” Amy Winehouse’s “Love is a Losing Game,” The Overtones’ “Gambling Man,” “Atlantic City” by Bruce Springsteen and Katy Perry’s “Waking up in Vegas,” among many hundreds of others.
Play to Your Own Beat at BetMGM
It’s undeniable the power that music has over us, how it can evoke memories, emotions and times and places in our lives. If you believe in its therapeutic properties, consider marking March 1, World Music Therapy Day, on your calendar and singing along to those tunes that make you feel good.
Before you settle down with the best casino songs of all time playlist accompanying your best online casino session, don’t forget to register at BetMGM to enjoy a huge array of live dealer casino games, online slots, poker tournaments and sports betting.
