Kenny Rogers ‘The Gambler’ DVD Box Set To Release Oct. 6

Kenny Rogers. Photo: Piper Ferguson

All five Gambler films starring Kenny Rogers are set to be released in one DVD collection, Kenny Rogers: The Gambler. The six-film box set (which includes the movie Coward of the County as a bonus), will be available at Walmart beginning Oct. 6, via Shout! Factory.

The Gambler series generated five Emmy Award nominations. Rogers made his acting debut in the original film The Gambler, which debuted on April 8, 1980. Rogers returned as Brady Hawkes in The Gambler: The Adventure Continues, which premiered on CBS in November 1983. The Gambler Part III: The Legend Continues followed in 1987, with the fourth installment, The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (featuring Rogers alongside Reba McEntire) aired on NBC in 1991. The series finale, Gambler V: Playing For Keeps, aired on CBS in 1994.

The series was loosely based on the Grammy-winning song “The Gambler,” penned by Country Music Hall of Fame songwriter Don Schlitz. The song was Rogers’s fourth No. 1 solo hit and one of five consecutive songs by the entertainer to reach No. 1. The song earned a Grammy in 1978 for Best Country Song and earned CMA’s Song of the Year honor in 1979.

In 2018, “The Gambler” was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or artistically significant.” Rogers died on March 20, 2020; following his passing, “The Gambler” reached No. 1 on Billboard‘s Digital Song Sales chart.