Casinos do not just live on the gaming floor. They turn up in playlists, festival sets, and radio rotations, sitting next to heartbreak anthems and party tracks. For listeners in New Zealand, the neon world of gambling is often something that exists in a lyric more than in daily life, yet the imagery keeps returning.
Across rock, country, indie, and rap, songwriters reach for chips, cards, and roulette wheels when regular metaphors start to feel tired. The casino becomes a shortcut to talk about risk, temptation, and the feeling of knowing the odds are bad and stepping forward anyway.
Research Study on the Most Casino-Obsessed Songs
A new analysis from comparison site Gambling.com looks at how far that obsession goes. Researchers pulled 10 songs with the word “casino” in the title from Spotify, then counted how often the word appeared in each track and divided that count by the track’s running time. The result is a top ten that treats casinos as more than a throwaway image.
The ranking puts American country singer Tucker Wetmore at the top of the pile, with a mentions-per-minute score above three for his single “Casino”. Alternative outfits, indie solo artists, and a London rapper round out the top four. Longtime rock names such as Wilco and Arctic Monkeys sit lower down the table, which shows how wide the casino metaphor travels.
For a music site in a country where pokies, lotteries, and online casino brands sit in the background of everyday culture, the list offers a snapshot of the overlap between gambling and entertainment. Instead of talking about top pokies options or specific venues, it listens to what artists say about the idea of a casino itself.
A Data Dive into Songs That Mention “Casino”
The study keeps the criteria tight. Each song has the word “casino” in the title and appears on Spotify. From there, the team counts every time the word shows up in the lyrics, then divides that number by the length of the track to reach a mentions-per-minute score. Tucker Wetmore’s “Casino” leads with eight uses of the word in just over two and a half minutes, which works out at 3.04 references per minute. That total places the track firmly at number one in the ranking.
Just behind, alternative and indie band Radium Dolls land in second place. Their own song, called “Casino,” includes the word twelve times over four minutes and 18 seconds, giving it a score of 2.79. Solo artist Niels follows close behind. His song “Casino”, taken from the album “The Lost Tale: Bandoleros”, uses the term six times in two minutes and 23 seconds for a final tally of 2.52.
The top-ranked most casino-obsessed songs
1. Tucker Wetmore – “Casino” – 3.04 mentions per minute (8 uses in 2:38)
2. Radium Dolls – “Casino” – 2.79 mentions per minute (12 uses in 4:18)
3. Niels – “Casino” – 2.52 mentions per minute (6 uses in 2:23)
4. Ambush Buzzworl – “Casino” – 2.17 mentions per minute
5. Houndmouth – “Casino (Bad Things)” – 1.13 mentions per minute
6. Wilco – “Casino Queen” – 1.10 mentions per minute
7. The Nashville Cast – “Casino” – 0.86 mentions per minute
8. Arctic Monkeys – “Tranquillity Base Hotel & Casino” – 0.85 mentions per minute
9. Grimlxck – “Casino” – 0.77 mentions per minute
10. Shed Seven – “Casino Girl” – 0.76 mentions per minute
Rap, Country, and Indie Sit Atop the Table
The upper part of the list shows how evenly the casino theme is spread across styles. London rapper Ambush Buzzworl secures fourth place with a mentions-per-minute score of 2.17 on his track “Casino”. The song sits inside a road rap sound, but the language of bets and stacked odds links it to country and rock writers who use the same imagery.
Alternative blues-rock band Houndmouth appears in fifth with “Casino (Bad Things)”. The track runs for two minutes and forty seconds, uses the word three times, and arrives at 1.13 mentions per minute.
Together, those top entries sketch out a loose storyline. A singer who knows a relationship is risky, a band leaning into the chaos of a gaming hall, a rapper treating the casino as shorthand for life at the edge.
Rock veterans keep casino imagery in rotation
The lower half of the top ten is filled with acts familiar to rock and alt-country fans. Wilco’s “Casino Queen” earns a mentions-per-minute score of 1.10 and holds sixth place. The Nashville Cast follows in seventh with their track “Casino,” which lands just behind at 0.86.
Arctic Monkeys appear in eighth with “Tranquillity Base Hotel & Casino.” The song, taken from their 2018 album of the same name, reaches 0.85 mentions per minute in the study. Ninth and tenth place go to Grimlxck’s “Casino” (0.77) and Shed Seven’s “Casino Girl” (0.76). The range of styles in those final spots mirrors the variety near the top of the chart, from indie rock to underground artists working with darker sounds.
Why Casino Language Keeps Showing Up in Songs
On paper, the numbers in the Gambling.com list are simple. They do not measure chart performance or streaming totals. They ask a specific question about how often artists say one particular word.
In practice, the ranking highlights how strongly casino imagery has lodged itself in pop culture. A casino is rarely just a building in these songs. It is a place where someone takes a chance they know they probably should not take.
For listeners in New Zealand, where online gaming sits alongside music, sport, and film as one more form of entertainment, those stories land quickly. Many people will never count cards or step into a high-limit room. They still understand what it feels like to stake something important and hope the next turn falls their way.
The songs in the Gambling.com table sit in different corners of the music world. They were released years apart and recorded in very different places, yet they share a single setting that keeps repeating until it feels like part of the hook.
For artists, the casino remains a useful frame for romance, regret, and the pull of bad decisions. For listeners, including those in New Zealand building playlists for road trips or quiet nights at home, it is another reminder that the language of gambling has slipped well beyond the tables.
