Whether or not you are a fan of the Star Wars franchise, you definitely would have heard of what happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
From the first Star Wars film in 1977, the franchise has evolved so much. Aside from films there have been shows, games, and comics that expanded the Star Wars universe. And if one wonders whether there is gambling in the Star Wars universe, the answer is yes, and there is even an entire planet that is dedicated to it.
The Gambling Planet of Cantonica
While there have been gambling activities that were shown in the Star Wars series, Star Wars: The Last Jedi in 2017 introduced the gambling planet of Cantonica, and its capital city of Canto Bight.
Canto Bight is a tourist destination especially for the wealthy, and for the heavy gamblers. It lies on the largest artificial ocean in the galaxy, the Sea of Cantonica. Canto Bight is lined with a myriad of casinos and racetracks, and can be compared to Las Vegas or Monte Carlo in the real world.
Aside from Canto Bight, there are also notable casinos in Naboo, Nar Shaddaa, The Wheel, and Reaper’s World.
Casino Games in Star Wars
So what forms of gambling were present in Star Wars? Gambling there is actually pretty much like what we have here on Earth. In Canto Bight, they have Swoop races that are similar to our horse racing and Formula 1. More risky forms of racing can be compared to Star Wars’ podracing – known as the ultimate speed test in the universe. Such racing involves a lot of betting both for the racers and for the audience.
Of course, staples such as slot machines such as those in XOslot are very common in the casinos of Canto Bight. Sabacc, the Star Wars version of Blackjack, will definitely be enjoyed by fans of the popular card game. Han Solo actually played a version of Sabacc called Corellian Spike where instead of cards, players make use of dice. Han won the Millenium Falcon from Lando Calrissian in a game of Corellian Spike. In the former’s funeral, the golden dice that Han uses were present.
Less prominent in the movies, we also have the Jubilee Wheel Game which represents the game of Roulette. Players will hope to land the ball in their desired number from 0 to 20. If successful, the player wins the prize.
Significance of Gambling in Star Wars
Aside from winning the Millenium Falcon, there are other significance of gambling and games of chance in the plot of Star Wars. Han Solo’s golden dice is notorious. They showed up numerous times in the Last Jedi. (Trivia: The Golden Dice were originally like our typical dotted dice, but they were redesigned later on to show symbols that are like those found in Canto Bight.)
In the Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon Jinn bets on the young Anakin Skywalker. In order to win his freedom from slavery, the Force has to be used to skew the results. Anakin was also a podracer.
In a scene in The Last Jedi, a gambler thought that droid BB-8 was a slot machine called Lugjack.
Star Wars Gambling is just like Real-World Gambling
Star Wars showed that despite some changes in names or formats, gambling in the Star Wars universe is pretty much similar to what we have on Earth. Games of chance are really a part of life, and will find themselves embedded in human and alien culture. So to answer the question of whether there is gambling in the Star Wars Universe, yes there really is.