There has been plenty of gambling art: Huntington Press even has a book filled with it. Here’s a story about a Northern California artist’s arm’s length approach to the subject. From the Oakland Tribune:
LISA ESHERICK is a Berkeley artist who currently has an exhibit of her casino paintings on display in San Francisco. But in her case, life doesn't imitate art. She isn't a gambler.
"Not in the least," she said Tuesday. "I would go to a nickel or quarter slot machine, but I don't even do it. I'm interested much more in the faces of people, and that's what drew me to it."
While showing a guest from Germany a slice of American life, she took him inside a Reno casino, a place that was more foreign to Esherick than it was to the tourist.
"I was just amazed," she recalled from that mid-1990s experience. "I was struck by the light, the way it exaggerated the features on faces, and the sharpness of color, which is vibrant in the American casinos."
…
”I don’t know anything about the tables,” she said, ”but I’m fascinated by what goes across the (faces) of people as they’re handling their money. They’re sort of putting themselves out, but they don’t really want to disclose exactly what’s going on. There’s an intensity and yet a restraint at the same time — the classic poker face.”Esherick wasn’t fooled. She captured perfectly, in acrylic abstract figurative form, the faces and mannerisms of the gamblers.
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Esherick was allowed to photograph gamblers in Reno. She had the same courtesy in Las Vegas until dealers decided she might be counting the numbers. In Germany and Russia, she was permitted only to draw the gamblers.
Dave Newhouse: Berkeley artist rolls dice with gambling-themed paintings – Inside Bay Area.
You can kind of tell that the artist (and the reporter) isn’t an advantage player from that last bit. Or maybe she is. I know when I was in CCTV, players “counting numbers” at the table would give us all fits. You’ve really got to watch out for those number counters–they’ll put you right out of business.