Casino Royale is in the business of supporting your organization's casino style entertainment event. We understand that Casino Royale's success depends on your success. We urge you to ask us any and all questions that you may have concerning the operation of your event. To help you consider hosting a casino themed event we have put together a short, but we hope, thought provoking planning guide.

Set a Goal for the Number of Guests

Whether the purpose of your event is to raise money or is strictly for its entertainment value, it is important to determine how many guests you expect to attend. While doing so can sometimes be difficult with a first time event, if your committee members give it some serious thought a reasonable number can usually be determined. The key is to be realistic, if previous events average 150 guests don't set your sites on 400. We only ask that the estimate is made in good faith and you keep us informed as the expectations change so that we can make sure you have the right amount of gaming activities for your guests.

Set a Date

Setting a date is very important. The golden rule is to plan well in advance. Generally, you will need a minimum of three months to put a successful fund-raising event together. Corporate and personal events on the other hand can, if need be, managed on much shorter time frames, the only restrictions being on the availability of the equipment configuration you want. When selecting a particular date try and find one that doesn't conflict with other major events. You will find however, that all dates conflict with something, so don't expect a "perfect" date. Fund-raisers should definitely avoid holidays. Note that Fridays and Saturdays are the best days for fund-raisers.

Corporate events should note that December is our busiest month, most weekends sell out early in the year, so plan well ahead. Remember we know it is not always possible to have lots of time to put your event together, so even if you only have a few days we can most likely help.

Select a Location

Giving yourself plenty of time in the early planning will serve you well in securing the right location, at the right price. Try and match the location with any theme you are planning. We mention this because many groups tag themes onto their casino theme, for example Wild West Casino, Hollywood Casino, Cruise Ship Casino and Gangster Casino. Naturally, the location will depend a lot on your budget and in the case of fund-raisers the donation being requested of the guests. Make sure that you keep the location in close proximity to the area in which your group lives or works. When in doubt ask us, we've been in just about every location imaginable in Georgia and South Carolina.

Food & Refreshments

It is not necessary to offer a full lunch or dinner at your event, but whenever you put together a group of people for three or four hours you will need to make some provision for refreshments or finger-food. Food can be used as an additional source of revenue, at any rate it must be factored into your budget. If you need complete coordination for your event, we offer turn-key packages to suit every occasion, please just give us a call.

Decorations

Of course, the most important decorations or props you need to set a casino theme are the table games from Casino Royale. They are more than sufficient to generate an electric and enjoyable Casino style atmosphere. Some groups choose to add additional character to the event with either small decorations (like Jumbo Playing Cards for the walls) or by developing a tag along theme (like Wild West Casino) with the help of additional props. Ask us for information about what's available and where. When a tag along theme is being used let us know as we can either supply our dealers with special attire or have them dress in theme from their own wardrobe.

Promotion

If your event is a fund-raiser, promotion will be your lifeblood. The best fund-raisers, generating the most money, put their biggest efforts into getting donations before the day of the event. It's important that you advertise through all available channels open for little or no cost, such as community service announcements. These avenues work to create awareness, which is good, however they do not take the place of a hard working sales force working the streets, phones and mail to get people to make the needed donations.

Tickets

Before you can sell the event you must have a ticket to give as a receipt. We suggest that you find a local merchant (restaurants are great) to underwrite the printing cost of the tickets. Naturally, they will get name recognition or even a coupon attached to the ticket, either way both sides are ahead.

Sponsors

Sponsors are most important for fund-raisers, however we've seen many business' use sponsors at events they put on for their customers thereby defraying some of the event's costs. If a merchant can't attend, maybe they will sponsor a game table. In exchange for a donation the merchant gets a plaque (a nice hand made tent card for example) on one of the blackjack, craps or roulette tables indicating their sponsorship of that table. Set a sponsor price on each type of table, craps and roulette generally go for a higher rate than the blackjack. We know of events that have covered their entire cost of the tables this way. If possible don't let this option pass you by.

Prizes

Merchants and friends will provide for your event for the asking! If you are planning a fund-raiser you shouldn't have to spend a penny for prizes. Make sure the merchants get their name in any printed materials and clearly announce them before their prize is given away as a way of thanking them. You can even give them a free ticket to the event. Who knows? Once they are there, they may run out of play chips and make another donation in order to keep playing. Most anything will do for a prize; it's not the value but more the thrill of winning that people enjoy. Don't get so many prizes that it takes more that 20 to 40 minutes to give them away, otherwise your guests might start getting bored. We want to leave them on a high, so keep things moving. For Corporate events, we recommend using items with your logo imprinted on the prizes or prizes that reflect the location of the event itself ( i.e. Each year we have a client that sponsors an event at a winery, many of the raffle gifts are bottles of wine and other assorted gifts available only at this location). Casino Royale coordinators are also ready and willing to purchase your raffle gifts for you, we require a budget and a guideline for the type/number of prizes that you wish to award.

Casino Equipment

You can leave these worries to Casino Royale! We will discuss your needs with you and help you decide on the types of games you need and the optimum number of each. We will work to get the right number of tables that will properly service all of your guests, but, at the same time, not leave empty tables standing around, sending the message that nobody showed up.

Timing

There are two general rules that we try to follow. First, the start time shouldn't be so late that guests have to stay out past midnight. Contrary to the notion that everybody wants to party all night long, most people want to be home at a reasonable time. That means you should consider starting your event between 6-8 PM depending on the length. Second, don't keep the casino going longer than four hours. Our dealers are contracted for 4 hours and anytime over that creates additional costs, but more importantly people just start to get tired after 3 or so hours of doing anything. You want to leave them on a high wanting more, not tired and wishing to go home.

Other Entertainment

We always suggest some provision for background music or other ambient sound. A lively event is a slightly noisy one. Generally, the excitement at the tables will be sufficient for a fun event, but if the room is too big for the group or the tables are split into different rooms, there may not be enough noise. If a DJ or band is not in your budget, ensure that you provide some other source of background music just to round out the atmosphere. If a DJ or band is in the plans, we will be happy to help you select appropriate entertainment from our sister company.

Clean-up

You can trust Casino Royale to remove all the gaming equipment promptly once your event ends. You need to make sure there are others on hand to help with the mess that will surely be made by your guests. If you are going to a hotel or convention center then you will get to skip the most exciting part of the evening!

Miscellaneous

Casino Royale also offers additional personnel in the following areas: Entrance table/check-in of guests, food servers, wet bar, master of ceremonies, waitresses/waiters. We also offer Roaming Magicians, Celebrity Look-A-Likes, Psychics, Tarot Card Readers, Caricature Artists, Elvis Impersonators, DJ's, Live Bands and so much more. Just ask, if we don't have it, we'll get it!

Conclusion

We hope that we have given you some good ideas and points for consideration. We expect that we have missed some areas of concern to you however, so feel free to call Casino Royale and talk to us. These events are such great fun that it's hard to do the wrong thing, so relax and let us help you put on a really super event.