After many years in the casino party and planning business, I’ve heard some very sad stories from customers about what happened at their casino fundraiser, and I’d like to share the 7 steps you must take to ensure you have a successful casino fundraiser and hire the BEST casino party company for your event.
The planning committee is the first step. This is the most important step in your planning, and you must assign a person to each of the specific tasks that must be completed for your event, such as the law and obtaining the necessary licenses, finding a location and catering for the event, obtaining sponsors to help with costs, obtaining gifts donated, locating the appropriate casino company, and determining who will handle the money. All of the above items are impossible to handle by one person. The only way to make it work is to assign one person to each item, leave them alone to complete the assignment, and have them report back to the person in charge of the event on a regular basis. To complete all of the chores, you’ll need a lot of time. I recommend starting 4-6 months prior to the event date.
Step 2: Researching the law and securing a fundraiser license as well as township approval. Always keep in mind that gambling is against the law, and hosting casino games at your event is gambling. This is significant since a casino fundraiser is not the same as a car wash event. Because gambling is illegal, state authorities are responsible for preventing it, which means your casino fundraiser will be exempt from the gaming regulations. Consider the state of New Jersey. The state agency ABC (Alcoholic Beverage Control) is in charge of detecting and preventing illegal gambling. Unfortunately, their handbook does not mention illegal gambling or exceptions to the gambling laws; instead, it simply says gambling, and one of their investigators has attempted to stop a casino fundraiser by claiming it was gambling. Because of the second item, I want you to remember, that the matter was handled before the event date. Despite the fact that your casino fundraiser includes gambling, which is unlawful, you are exempt from the gambling rules under state law. The state legislature of New Jersey passed a law allowing casino gaming and establishing the Casino Control Commission to monitor the activity. They also passed a law allowing casino fundraisers and establishing the Legalized Games of Chance Control Commission to oversee the activity. The thing I want you to take away from this is that in order to make your casino fundraiser legitimate, you must first learn the legislation and obtain the necessary permits and township approval. Just because you’re a 501(c)(3) non-profit group that’s used to holding car washes to raise revenue doesn’t mean you can throw a casino fundraiser just because it sounds fun. So, at this point, you should know that it’s a good idea to call your state’s Attorney General’s office to find out what the rules are for holding a casino fundraiser in your state.
Step 3: Find the best casino. The casino corporation may be required to be licensed by your state’s licensing laws. In New Jersey, there have been instances where a non-profit group hired a casino party provider and neither side was aware of the restrictions, resulting in the event being canceled and fines being imposed. Each state is different, however, in New Jersey, the casino company and all of the dealers are required to hold a casino fundraiser license. So the key here is to first learn the requirements on your own by phoning the state authorities, then call the casino firms and inquire about the requirements for holding a casino fundraiser. A professional casino party company will ask if you have your license and will be able to send you the necessary documents through email. They should be able to walk you through the entire process of receiving your license and securing authorization from the township. If they don’t help you or explain the regulations, they might not comprehend them, which could result in a tragedy.
Step 4: Who is in charge of your event? It’s important to note that some casino party companies promote locally while others advertise nationally. Local companies, in my experience, are ideal for you because national companies may not be familiar with the rules in your state. Worse, national corporations will not participate in your event. What they do is call local firms, get a price from them, and then add hundreds of dollars to the bill just for picking up the phone, even if the local company will be conducting your event and will have given you a lower quote than the national one. When you look at each company’s website, you’ll see that some show photos of movie stars and people having a good time in a casino on the front page. Forget about all of the content created to entice you because it is unimportant. When you acquire pricing quotations from casino party businesses, you may get three or four that are in the same general range as the others, and one or two that are significantly higher. Consider the following scenario: you received quotes for $1000, $1100, $1200, and $2000. It doesn’t make sense that three quotes were in the same range but one was much higher; this is because the very high quote is from a national company that will not do your event because they will call the local company that gave you the lower quote in the first place and adds the additional money to the bill.
Step 5: The gambling tables are the fifth step. A general rule to follow is that around 70% of your guests should be able to participate. You can make changes to this regulation, but I wouldn’t go below 50% ability to play. The casino should be able to help you with this. They should also keep in touch with you throughout the week leading up to the event to make any necessary changes to the tables. Let’s say your event was supposed to be 300 people, but you found out last week that only 200 people will turn up. A respectable casino will advise you to reduce the number of tables available. Because they will make more money, a bad casino company will want you to stick with the original suggestion. Simply said, the BEST casino party business would prefer that you have the appropriate amount of tables, not too many or too few and that they do not prioritize their profit over your fundraising goals. Let’s talk about the gambling tables that will be employed at your party. As a certified dealer, I believe that the top casino firms have new equipment that does not have folding metal legs and/or skirts under the table to conceal the metal legs. Consider why a real casino’s tables do not have metal folding legs. With up to 14 persons leaning and moving their weight on the table, a crap or roulette table is incredibly heavy. Perhaps this is why you shouldn’t use metal folding legs on your table since you don’t want to risk the table collapsing. On a table with metal folding legs, I will never deal craps or roulette. The point I want you to remember here is that you should get a written agreement from the casino party provider that they will be the ones to host your event and will not outsource to anyone else. You could also ask for photos of the actual tables that will be used at the event from the casino firm. If they can show you the tables on their website, that’s fine, but why doesn’t a casino corporation include images of the tables on their website? Accept the company’s shot of the tops of the tables with people having a good time because it does not show the table legs, which I consider to be the most crucial aspect.
Step 6: Costs and recommendations from the casino. The casino party business should make recommendations for the appropriate casino tables to have at your event, as well as the amount of each table. They’ll stick to the general rule of allowing 70% of your guests to play, but they should also keep in touch with you during the planning process and be willing to cut or add tables as needed. Remember that the casino is there to assist you, but they also want to make money. A good casino will advise you to reduce the number of tables originally advised based on the number of guests if necessary, allowing them to be of great assistance to you while still making a profit. The poor casino firms will try to persuade you to stick to your initial strategy because it will allow them to make more money. The point is that if you have too few tables, your guests will not be able to play, which means they will not be able to donate money to the event; on the other hand, if you have too many tables, they will not be used, resulting in you spending more money than you should, and you may lose money for the charity as a result. Last but not least, some casino party firms that perform fundraising will ask for a share of your profits. Because it is your money, never hire a corporation that wants a percentage of the earnings. Consider the gaming company in the same way that you would a caterer or a DJ. They are paid a set rate for their services and not a cent more.
Step 7: Who will be in charge of the funds? In a casino fundraiser, it’s a cardinal rule to never let the casino company touch the money. Keep in mind that there could be thousands of dollars on the line, and you’ll want to avoid any temptations or allegations. A good casino will advise you on how to set up a “bank” and how only your employees will have access to the funds. There are times during the evening when the casino company pit boss will do things to encourage additional donations, such as offering chip specials to your guests who donate more money at each table, but this should only be done one table at a time with one of your representatives standing next to them.
