How to Host a Casino Gaming Night

You like drinking and you like playing games then you might want to consider hosting a casino night at home. Assuming you are living in a region or country where Covid-19 is not restricting how many people you can interact with you could organise a great night in.

There are a few things to take into account when hosting a casino night though. Your budget will decide on how you organize the event. Will you hire professionals or run the night yourself? Where to get the gaming equipment from and how much alcohol and food to buy.

If you do use a professional company they will provide all the necessary equipment and games along with dealers, bartenders and entertainment but assuming this is out of your budget here are some things to consider and help to organise a successful casino night.

Is it legal to organize a casino night?

You are most likely organizing this event for friends so it is unlikely the police will come and raid your home for running an illegal gambling den but it is still worth considering the law. Searching Google should bring up the local gambling regulations for your area. There are different rules for charity casino events and others for playing with cash. One way to get around this would be to use fake money.

Print out fake notes, maybe put your face on the design, and then hand these out to your guests as they arrive. They can change these for chips just like in a casino without real cash being handed over. This could help avoid any arguments later if the 'house' wins and you inadvertently take all your friend's money!

Staffing the party

There are many companies who can help you to organize a casino game night but they come at a price. Your budget will dictate how you run the night but if you want to keep costs down you can deal or serve drinks yourself. However this means you will miss out on a lot of the fun. You could always ask neighbours if their teenagers want to help out for a few hours and earn a bit of cash.

If you go this route then show them the drinks menu and how to make some simple drinks and then basic games rules.

What games do you want?

Remember not all of your friends are going to be big casino or gambling fans. Some may not know the rules to a lot of games so it is important to make the right choices. You want a fun night with your guests drinking, eating and having fun with some of the games.

Roulette, blackjack and slots are simple games that anyone can understand. Many people enjoy poker so you should put in a table for this too and maybe print out all the possible poker hands so beginners can get a basic grip on the game easily. Once you have chosen your games you will need to find the equipment.

Where do you find gaming equipment?

Your first stop should be your friends. Ask if anyone has any equipment at their home. You may find a friend with a poker set and chips. Packs of cards should be easy to find and if you're lucky someone might have a roulette wheel but if not these can be found easily in party shops and online at Amazon and eBay. Forget about buying real slot machines like ramses book as they are too bulky and cost too much.

If you have to purchase anything look for second hand equipment in good condition. After all you are unlikely to be hosting a casino night every week so there is no need to buy expensive new poker tables and other games. You could always relist the items on eBay after the night and recoup some of your money.

Buying in the booze

This is likely to be the most expensive part of the night. You will need some soft drinks but overwhelmingly you will be spending your cash on alcohol. You will need beer and a basic range of spirits. If you enjoy making cocktails and mixing drinks then you could put together a drinks menu and print it up. Get a small but useful range of spirits that can be used to make a range of cocktails from. Vodka, rum, tequila, whisky and gin will cover a lot of bases. You can stock up on some wine too but if the budget is worrying you then you can ask guests to bring a bottle if they want something very specific.

Snacks and other food

You probably need to offer something to soak up all the booze you are going to be pouring so this is another area to look at. Finger food and snacks that can be eaten one handed and while standing are perfect. You want your guests to be able to mingle and move around the games so there is no point in providing a 3 course meal. The aim of the night is to drink, play games and have fun.

Setting up the games

You need to create adequate space for all the games. The roulette wheel, poker and blackjack tables taking up most of the room. Make sure there is enough room for people to move around and consider using the garage even for a poker room. If you want to include slots then the most realistic way to do this would be on tablets or laptops. This means you might have to borrow some devices from friends and then set up slot games on each of them and connect to the internet. They could be free to play games or actual online casinos where real money is being played and either lost or won.

Money and prizes

Speaking of money if you decide to use real money for your casino night then maybe you will want to set limits so everything stays friendly. If you go down the fake money route then you could offer prizes at the end to the players with the most chips or hold a raffle with some small prizes to make it feel like the guests really won something.

Casinos and alcohol

Card games, casinos and alcohol go hand in hand and a casino night can be a great way for you and your friends to get together and enjoy some drinks while playing a choice of games.