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A new TV movie about the Natalee Holloway case doesn't wait long to feature gambling--the second scene of the film takes place in a South American casino.
The movie, "Justice for Natalee Holloway," premiered Monday on the American cable television network Lifetime and is to air several more times.
It is a sequel to the 2009 Lifetime film "Natalee Holloway," which told the story of the sluttish Alabama teen who disappeared while on a high school trip to Aruba in 2005.
The sequel follows up on the case and focuses on the activities of Joran van der Sloot, the sleazy Aruban teen who was suspected in the disappearance and who later killed a girl in Peru and was jailed.
The movie is pure schlock, but if you were interested enough in the subject matter to tune in, you probably enjoyed it.
The movie mirrors the real-life details of the case, and since gambling--specifially poker--was part of the case, it's also part of the movie.
In the second scene of the movie, van der Sloot, played by Stephen Amell, is seen playing poker in a casino in Lima, Peru.
A local woman sits down next to him at the table and van der Sloot engages her in conversation and eventually picks her up, taking her back to his hotel room so they can both play online poker on his computer.
In subsequent scenes, after several scenes of backstory, he murders her in the hotel room and flees the country, but is soon arrested by authorities in neighboring Chile and returned to Peru, where he is jailed on murder charges.
The movie dramatically ends with Holloway's mother, Beth, sneaking into the Peruvian prison where van der Sloot is being held and confronting him over Natalee's disappearance.
When "Natalee Holloway" aired on Lifetime two years ago, it was the highest-rated show in the history of the network.
Expect the sequel, "Justice for Natalee Holloway," to score equally impressive numbers--if not better.
And if the real van der Sloot somehow manages to kill any more women, expect Lifetime to be on the trail--of a sequel to the sequel.
By Tom Somach
Gambling911.com Staff Writer
