The Hot Shoe

Las Vegas — to many it's a 24-hour fantasy world filled with showgirls, high rollers and outrageous theme hotels. With a roll of the dice, 75 year-old Lou stakes everything to retire and start a new life there. But beneath the glittering surface of the city, Lou discovers a world quite different from his dreams. This compassionate portrait follows Lou and several other residents over a two-year period, documenting a community living in the shadow of the Las Vegas strip, where gambling is a constant temptation and reality is more subtle and stirring than any game.

Gardeners, veterinarians and breeders. And some imposing mammals capable of running at seventy kilometers per hour: the baths in the sun, the runway before the confrontation. And the money, the bets and the runners speed around a dizzying track.

Years after serving time for betting on games he officiated, former NBA referee Tim Donaghy revisits the scandal that shook up the league.

Meet Rocky Salemmo. He’s a ramblin’ gamblin’ man. For the majority of his adult life Rocky has hustled bowling for a living. Here is his story. A short documentary about booze, broads and bowling.

An expedition to the dirty abyss of professional sports. The award winning investigative journalist Benjamin Best (CNN Journalist of the Year 2011) takes a global look behind the scenes at the colourful world of sports and exposes the bitter taste behind the multi-billion sports business.

Top gaming instructor David Wilhite shows you how to play to win at craps!

Documentary from 2010. Sheldon Adelson is the man who builds the world's largest casinos. Once, he was a poor boy from Boston but today the third richest man in the United States. Join a world that does not look at the problems of gambling, but the most exclusive of the world's casinos.

Tips and tricks on how to win on 80's and 90's slot machines!

Die-hard regulars at a Canadian bingo hall, hope their next card will be the one that wins them the jackpot.

Documentary tracing the attempts of a team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Institue students to become rich playing blackjack at casinos throughout the United States and the attempts of the casinos' management to thwart them.

January, 1947. The public receives the news of Al Capone's death with indifference, although twenty years earlier he had ruled Chicago's crime underworld with brute force and corrupting many touchable individuals. Until the day the head of the Untouchables Brigade, Eliot Ness, entered the scene. Since then, a cruel battle between the two of them began, a battle that ended in trial, conviction, disease, insanity and death.

When Michelle Wong's brother, Philip, committed suicide at the age of 36, she felt that she had to find out why. Her film, Pieces of a Dream, is her attempt to understand her brother's death and to deal with his loss.

An in depth look at the full effect of State Lotteries on the players and the people around them.

“The NFL Today” on CBS was one of the preeminent sports programs on television in the early 1980s. It was a perfect combination of reporting, analysis, predictions, humor and talent. But there was no personality on the show more popular than Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder. Born in Steubenville, Ohio, to Greek immigrants, Jimmy overcame childhood tragedy, moved to Las Vegas, and eventually became the biggest name in the world of sports handicapping. When CBS added him as an “analyst” on “The NFL Today,” “The Greek” not only further increased his stature as a sort of national folk hero, but he also gained an air of respectability never before associated with gamblers. Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Fritz Mitchell, who broke in as an intern on “The NFL Today,” will examine Snyder’s impact on the growth of sports gambling, while also taking a fresh look at The Greek’s tragic downfall.

A short documentary about my lovely aunt Lili. The film shows just a small part of her life. She is always on the lookout for luck, whether in love or with scratch-off tickets.

Sports betting in the USA is booming and this doc features those who know how it all began, up to how it became the huge business it is today. Narrated by Trip Mitchell, insight is provided by baseball's Pete Rose, oddsmaker Dennis Tobler, Pinnacle's Jessica Davis, historians Richard Davies & Eugene Moehring, Buzz Daly, Frank Cullotta, Joe D'Amico, Jim Bobbera, Norm Kelley and "Vegas Dave" Oancea.

The high tech world of cheaters and catching them in the world of the Las Vegas casinos.

A young man's journey from gambling addict to YouTube star.

Comedian and presenter Lloyd Griffith embarks on an experiment to find out if he can uncover the secrets of gambling success and in the process learn the truth about how the industry operates.

Dream city, Sin City, a mirage in the desert, Las Vegas is a film set in its own right, a piece of pop art, an outdoor museum of American culture. What is the story behind the neon lights and fantastical buildings? What will its future be in these tough times? Alan Yentob takes a mob tour and talks to producers and performers about the golden days when Sinatra and Dino held the stage, and the wise guys called the shots.