There are various avenues you can take when hosting a casino night for charity including charging for entry and asking for casino table sponsorships.
With our help and advice, you can organise a profitable casino night that raises money for charity and provides ample entertainment for attendees.
A charity casino night is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a chance for people to get together and play casino games like blackjack, roulette and poker. Except all the proceeds from chips sold and bets placed will go to charity!
Legalities of fundraising with a casino night
As a casino night involves gambling, there are some potential legal issues you will need to be aware of when organising your fundraiser. Don’t worry though, as if you follow the tips below you won’t run into any problems.
Prizes
Whilst players will be placing bets and buying chips with real money, no cash prizes or wagers may be awarded to winners at the casino night. Winners are entitled to a prize that has been donated by a sponsor.
Have players buy chips before they play so they are not playing with real money at the tables.
Organisation funds
At least 90% of the revenue obtained from the evening must go towards the chosen charity, with the remaining 10% being used to cover initial organisational costs for equipment, food and drink.
You should appoint a volunteer to keep track of the costs to ensure this is met.
Food and drink
You will need to ensure that any food or drink you prepare is FSA approved. For a one-off event, you are not required to have a certificate to prepare and sell food, but you need to ensure that you are following FSA guidelines with regard to food safety.
Raising money with a casino night
Take a look below at some of the best ways to raise money for charity with a casino night.
Casino table sponsorships
If you have three games throughout the night (Poker, Blackjack and Roulette, for example), find at least one sponsor for each table who will at least cover the rental cost of the casino equipment as well as providing a donation to the total money raised for charity.
Food and drink sales
Selling food and drink can be another source of income from your casino night. We recommend choosing cheap to make food ideas such as hot dogs, burgers, fries and bacon and sausage sandwiches.
You can spend a bit more to make batches of food, like curry or chilli that can be served with rice, these will last longer and save time/money in the long run.
Price your food and drink according to how much you spend, but remember that people are already here to donate, so don’t rely on the food/drink to raise money.
Ticket sales for entry
Set a goal of how much money you want to raise during the evening and decide how many people you will need to attend to meet your target. You then need to delegate the task of selling tickets before the event.
As an example, to get 50 people in attendance you could task 5 people to be in charge of selling 10 tickets each.
How to organise a charity casino night
Choose your games
There are plenty of casino games to choose from, though the most popular and easiest to set up are card games like blackjack and poker, or a roulette wheel. You may want to have just two games, but people will have more fun if there is a variety of games to try.
Find a suitable venue
Finding a suitable place to host your charity evening is your top priority. It must fit everyone in, as well as all the casino tables and equipment.
Local bars and restaurants are a good place to host a casino night as they will already have enough tables and chairs to fit everyone in. They will also already have a liquor and music licence so you can sell alcohol and play music without facing any legal implications.
Casino rental equipment costs
Unless you already have the casino equipment at home, it makes sense to rent everything you need. Depending on the games you plan on running, you will need a poker table, playing cards for each game, a blackjack table, chips and Roulette wheels.
Food and drink costs
If you’re planning to sell refreshments at your casino night, be mindful of the overhead costs. Large batches of food are cheaper and last longer, plus you don’t need someone to cook and serve for you as your attendees can serve themselves.
If you don’t want to take food and drink out of your budget, why not ask people attending to donate food to create a communal buffet? This will get people more involved as well as saving you money.
Insurance and security
You will need insurance for the venue you’re hiring, as well as for the rental equipment. You may also want to hire a ‘bouncer’ to act as security throughout the evening to ensure no one under the age of 18 tries to enter the event.
Promote your event
Promoting the casino night is important to ensure enough people turn up. There are numerous you can do this such as creating a Facebook event, posting fliers and leaflets in local shop windows and asking for promotion from your local radio station.
Facebook event
You can use a Facebook event to promote the casino night. Invite your friends and family and encourage them to share the event across their Facebook pages.
You can also share the event with local communities and encourage members to share to increase your reach.
Contact your local newspaper and radio station
Ask your local newspaper and radio station to put out an announcement of the casino night and ensure you include the details of the time, date, location and a brief insight into what people can expect.
Enlist responsible volunteers to help organise the event
You need to enlist responsible volunteers at least one month before the event so that you can delegate tasks between the helpers.
Put a few people in charge of ticket sales, ask someone to help out with making and selling food on the evening and contact volunteers who can help to run the tables and games.
Ask sponsors to donate prizes
You should ask local businesses to act as sponsors for the casino night tables at least one month in advance as well.
Encourage them to donate non-monetary prizes for the winners of the games such as restaurant vouchers, free drinks in their bar or a free game of tennis at the local community centre.
Other things to consider when hosting a charity casino night
- Keep change in money box at the entrance to the casino night event for those paying with large notes
- You could arrange to have a card machine set up for donations and ticket entry fees
- Designate tasks and responsibilities to volunteers at least one month in advance of the casino night
- Promote the event in plenty of time before the night
- Set up the venue early to avoid any incidents and to ensure everything runs smoothly
Further reading and resources:
http://www.thegoodgamblingguide.co.uk/games/poker/legal_poker_uk.htm