How to host your own casino night

Hosting your own casino night can be a super fun way to have a party with a difference. It gives your guests the chance to mingle in a laid back social environment while also enjoying the excitement of gambling. Many corporate businesses and fundraisers have taken to hosting their own casino nights in an attempt to liven up social functions and give guests the chance to win some money or prizes in the process.

If you’re looking for a break from the usual cocktail party or back yard barbeque, why not consider our tips on how to host your own casino night? There are many options and different ways this can be done, so use this as a guide for some inspiration only.

The space

First of all, you’ll need to find a suitable space to host the games. Assuming you’ll be hosting the event from your own home, you may need to clear some things aside to make sure you have enough room to create your own gaming floor. Suggestions include your backyard, garage, rumpus room or lounge room – anywhere that can host a number of tables without too many of your household items getting in the way, so long as it still has a nice, welcoming atmosphere.

The party essentials

Just like if you were hosting any other kind of party, a casino night requires all the good old fashioned essentials. You’ll need drinks, food and music. Consider whether you want to create a more glamorous event by setting up a bar, or simply keep things casual with guests helping themselves to drinks from eskys.

Finger food is the way to go, so that guests can still snack while playing or milling around, avoiding greasy food that could make it messy to hold cards and place bets. Music should be a good blend of lively tunes to keep the good vibes going, but nothing too loud or overbearing so that guests can still concentrate on the game at hand.

The finer details

The level of detail that you go into when it comes to decorating will make all the difference to how well your event is remembered. If you’re going to go to all the effort of setting up a mini casino then you may as well go all out. There’s no better theme to follow than the classic playing cards theme, using a red, white and black colour scheme and decorating with all things diamonds, hearts, clubs and spades. This can be done on the cheap or as lavishly as your budget allows.

If you don’t have much to spend, some red, white and black balloons and streamers with some playing cards strung up around the place will set the scene, while those wanting to go the extra mile can buy or hire elaborate casino decorations online or from party stores.

Consider hiring help

You can hire help for virtually anything these days, so if all the organisation is getting a bit much for you, consider hiring people to ease your woes. You can use professional services or scowl your local classified or Gumtree ads to find a range of bartenders, caterers and service providers to dish out the drinks, serve food and clean as they go. You could even consider hiring people to act as the dealers.

Hiring help means that when the night comes all you need to worry about is having fun, not stressing about whether or not your guests have a drink in their hand.

The table games

You can make your own game areas simply by setting up some tables with green tablecloths or felt, or you can go all out and hire or buy actual casino gaming tables. For card games like poker or blackjack, all you’ll need is a relevant amount of playing cards or poker sets, but if you want to offer roulette or a money wheel you’ll need to invest in some additional purchases. You can hire professionals to host the games, or have guests rotate in the role as dealers so that everyone has a turn.

You’ll also need to determine whether you want to use gaming chips, or a fun alternative like lollies or small objects with designated values. We recommend you print out the rules of each game so they’re on standby if any objections occur during gameplay or if a guest is new to the game.

Set up a virtual slot game area

If you really want to step things up a notch, you could have your own virtual slot space by setting up a couple of laptops or tablets in a designated area that are all set up with access to one of our recommended online casinos.

Guests can then play any of the online slots for free in demo mode, enjoying a drink as they spin. They won’t be able to win any real money, but it’ll help set the ambience of playing in a real casino and can be a cheap way to extend your games further.

The prizes

You’ll need to determine whether guests at the party will be playing just for fun, for real money or for prizes. If you’re playing for real money or real prizes, consider having all guests purchase the same designated number of chips upon arrival and the players with the most chips at the end of the night win either a pre-determined amount of cash or prizes. You might also want to consider giving all guests a small prize or goody-bag to take home at the end of the night so that everyone walks away feeling like a winner.