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Reason for the Party

It’s Party Time! Great, but the reason for the party often determines the direction the party grows in.

Our vested interest is in awakening a knowledge in you that if you’re planning an “Event” and not just a basic “food and booze” party – you want to consider adding casino entertainment.

Why casino entertainment? Because in order for a party to be truly successful, all of the guests need to be involved and leave thinking that was the best party they had ever been to. Nothing creates that feeling of well-being more than an interactive casino party.

Take the time to view our YouTube video on adding The Magic Touch to your next casino party:

There will be some who choose not to play. Their pleasure comes from the ambience that is created around them. People laughing and joking and high-fiving their fellow guests on a job well done. Their pleasure comes from being part of something that is so much better than anything they have ever done before at this type of social event.

Interactive is the operative word here. Many forms of entertainment are passive and appeal to a percentage of the guests. Casino entertainment is interactive and will include 97+% of your guests.

We suggest you order “A Winning Combination: Casino Gaming for Fun and Profit” from http://www.LowdownReports.com/eshop.php as soon as you know there is an event in your future. The Report is written so that it can be broken into sections for different committees and includes everything you need to know about planning the event including casino gaming rules and silent auction tips. The purchase of the Report gives you access to The Casino Guru for one year to guide you through your event.

Social, Corporate or a Fund-Raiser

Your event will fall into one of the above categories and they all have different needs. However, interactive entertainment fits into all of them. You’ve gotten to this series of messages because you’re looking for information on casino parties and most likely have requested our Party Planner. If you didn’t receive the Party Planner or would like a printer friendly version, email a message to FantasyCasino@aol.com and put Request Party Planner in the Subject line of the email. The Party Planner would have covered all of these types of events and given you samples of each.

The thing for you to be aware of now is that anytime you plan an event you have an obligation to make the event worthwhile for the people who are attending it. Each of the categories have slightly different needs.

A Social event indicates that most people will know each other so you can assume a certain comfort level in the guests.

A Corporate event indicates that the co-workers will know each other but their guests may or may not. If you extend the invitation to your Clients, you’re adding another whole element who may not know many of the other guests.

A Fund Raiser is another whole ballgame. Generally a group pf people who will support a cause may not know many of the other guests. You want them pleased that they spent money on a ticket and then spent further funds at the event – and there is your obligation to plan an entertaining evening for them.

Clearly, the most entertaining evening you can plan is a “High Roller’s” Fantasy Casino Party for your event.

Who is on the Guest List

The extent of your guest list will determine many factors of your event. You’ll need to decide where to have the party and that will depend on how large a place you need for the number of people you will invite. Most of your decision will be made by what fits in the budget.

Other times the type of event defies a budget? You may be planning a corporate kick-off, a company anniversary or accomplishment of some kind that dictates the type of party you’re going to have.

For a social function you will most likely know everyone attending with a few exceptions for some one’s guest. A corporation event may include your employees who may be allowed to bring a guest. If you decide to invite Clients they will bring a guest. See how that list just keeps growing.

With a fund-raising event you can base your guest count on the number of tickets you sold to your last fund-raising event and use that as a base. A well-executed casino event will usually draw solidly for two years in a row and will usually draw better than a basic event.

Timing of the Party

You want to call the time for your party to fit the occasion. Birthday parties make the most obvious choices.

Outside of that you have other considerations to factor in. Universally, Saturday night is the Night Out for most people. The majority of our Casino Party Business happens in December and each year I just wish we could take everyone who books (and wants to book) for those first two or three Saturdays in December and spread them out through November and into January. But that’s not what they want.

The second choice is Friday night. Those two choices – Friday and Saturday nights – are when most parties happen because those are the nights that people respond to parties. During the week there are other things going on, or work starts early the next morning, or people just are not crazy about going out during the week. Your event may call for something different, but we’re going to assume a Friday or Saturday night for the purpose of this message.

We’re also going to assume an outside facility that you will be paying a fee to use. Pay attention now. Generally facility rentals will be for six hours with charges for extra hours. Most of your preparations will be done outside of the event venue and brought in ready to go. Generally, the first hour is “get everything in the venue” time. Some venues are more accommodating than others and will allow additional prep time without charging. That would be something to find out when you’re venue shopping.

You’re now looking at a five hour time span – from 7 p.m. to midnight and you need to decide when (and how) you’ll serve the food, where you’re going to fit in the entertainment, and what type of program – if any – you want to present.

How to Structure a Social Event with Casino Gaming.

Social events are easy because they’re usually in someone’s home or in a private club. Both venues allow a little more flexibility as far as set up time. Start with the casino as a three-hour presentation and then determine how long you want the event to last. From over 20 years of experience 11 p.m. seems to be the maximum time with 10:30 being the more common.

What we see works the best is to have guests arrive between 6:30 and 7:30. Have food and drink available upon arrival so the social hour happens along with the “Happy Hour” and by 7:30 guests are ready for the entertainment. You structure the casino entertainment from 7:30 to 10:30 with time out for any appropriate activity – singing “Happy Birthday,” cutting a cake, roasting a guest – whatever.

Then you’ve got the last half hour to wrap things ups with some prizes and fun stuff. That’s not to say that everyone will be gone by 11 but as soon as you close the casino activity the majority of guests will head on home and you’re left with a smaller, more intimate group for as long as that happens.

Is There a Program That Needs to Happen Along with the Party?

Not all events lend themselves to a three-hour entertainment feature. The casino does not need to be a full three hours but it not an inexpensive offering – usually about $16 to $20 per guest depending on how many guests you’re having. The more guests you have, the more equipment you use, the cost per head goes down.

We’ve had events where we furnished one hour of cocktail entertainment before a huge sit-down dinner that took up the rest of the evening. We sometimes will be the after dinner entertainment from a seated, guests served by the plate dinner followed by a lengthy program. We try to get in two hours, but if the Client goes over their program it could be shorter because the hotel banquet room is booked for a certain time and the entertainment needs to happen during certain times to fulfill that contract.

The record holder is a holiday party that was late with the food service, then the program dragged and the CEO got long-winded and so wrapped up in what he was saying that he just kept talking. The equipment had been set up that afternoon and the dealers were waiting in the wings but a casino event that should have run from 9:30 to 11:30 ran from 11 to 11:45 – and they were still thrilled with the presentation.

Short message here is that if the occasion for your event requires a lengthy presentation the casino entertainment may best be left for another occasion. You want to be able to have at least two hours for the entertainment to justify the cost.

We suggest you order “A Winning Combination: Casino Gaming for Fun and Profit” from http://www.LowdownReports.com/eShop.php as soon as you know there is an event in your future. The Report is written so that it can be broken into sections for different committees and includes everything you need to know about planning the event including casino gaming rules and silent auction tips.

How to Structure a Fund-Raising Event with Casino Gaming

What we do at our Fantasy Casino Parties is called an Amusement Recreation Event. That means that guests are invited to an event or purchase a ticket to a fund-raising event and are given usually $5,000 in scrip to play games. Since we embellish the games, players generally would not need more scrip and have the opportunity to enjoy a wonderfully outrageous gaming experience.

There are ways in Washington State and other places to be able to sell additional scrip to improve your bottom line. However, if you’re located in one of the casino-rich environments in the United States don’t pin your hopes of a profitable evening on the supposition that people will buy more scrip to play the games. If people are going to come up with more cash than the price of the ticket to the event, chances are they’ll take that cash to a real casino to play – unless you’re offering some pretty outrageous prizes.

If the casino is the main entertainment – focus on that entertainment at your event – and your timing is really pretty simple: Event from 7 to 12 with the casino from 8 to 11 with a few breaks for raising additional funds.

If you’re doing an auction along with the casino you want to adjust the casino entertainment to the auction. That generally means getting an earlier start. Auction goers are a whole breed unto themselves. And very often, one half of the couple may be the auction goer and the other half if the one we want to entertain – see how well that works.

The optimum is to be able to do three Silent Auction tables along with an oral auction for higher priced items. That’s the goal you want to strive for. Several groups we worked with for multiple years started smaller and worked themselves up to that level. Check back into the Party Planner for that information if you want to review it.

You want to plan for three segments of casino play culminating with the closing of the last Silent Auction table and prior to the live auction. Don’t delude yourself that people will want to play again once the Silent Auction is over. Remember, the reason they’re here is for the Auction. The Auction will be your main source of revenue and while the Silent Auction works very well interspersed with the Casino entertainment, but the time the Live Auction begins the casino entertainment should be over and done with – prizes awarded and all so that the guests can focus on the Live Auction.

The secondary benefit to that timing is that the cashier’s get all of the paperwork from all of the Silent Auction tables froe the Live Auction starts and can begin to take care of people who will not be participating any further in the Live Auction. That shortens the amount of people you have standing around at the end of the Live Auction waiting to be taken care of.

How Much Money Do You Need to Raise.

If the event you’re planning is social or corporate – you’ve got a winner. Hands down, casino entertainment provides the best one on one entertainment you can provide for your guests.

However if your event is a fund-raiser you need to take a long, hard look at your expectations.

How many guests can you sell tickets to?

How many of those people will actually come to the event?

Are there other revenue sources you can count on or will the entertainment be the party?

Then take the number of guests (let’s say 200) and multiply it by the ticket price you feel your guests would be comfortable with (let’s say $40) and you have an $8,000 figure.

Then take a look at your fixed costs. Will you have to pay for a venue? Will you have to pay for food and beverages? What other expenses will you encounter? Deduct that amount from your $8,000. Is that going to be enough profit for the event.

If not, you need to review some of the other ways of raising money at a casino event to raise your bottom line.

Best Way to Raise Money With a Casino Event.

The absolute best combination is a “High Roller’s” Fantasy Casino Party in conjunction with a Silent and Live Auction. With a well-planned and executed event you can realistically expect to raise into six figures.

Maybe you don’t need to go that high, or maybe you don’t have the committee people to make that happen. Then you need to be realistic about what you do have.

To raise lots of money you need lots of guests and that may be an issue. Each successful auction event is successful because you have a core group that supports the event and then you have additional supporters who will dig to support if the enticements are there.

Be realistic about the core group you have to work on the event. If this is a second event you hopefully have the committee reports from the previous year(s) to build on. Makes it much easier for everyone. A full-scale event cannot be implemented successfully with less than four committed people and if you decide to add casino you need at least two more who understand casino gaming.

That core group (of 6 and hopefully 10) will reach out for others to do things the night of the event (and leading up to the event) but that core group has to be willing to assume responsibility for one of the major activities of the event as outlined in “A Winning Combination.”

Sponsorship

Sponsorship is an interesting concept and a solid boost to the bottom line for some groups. The following is just to give you some ideas and then you need to apply the concept to your group and see if any of it fits your agenda. What you can actually make happen is limited only by your imagination and the group you have to work with.

Associations and Trade Shows are a natural. The association assesses a fee to each member to cover the cost of the entertainment and then each member furnishes a prize for the casino activity. If you’re looking for a fund-raising opportunity explore the associations your members may belong to and explore presenting the Trade Show as a fund-raiser for your group under the association’s sponsorship.

If the group you want to support has a high profile there may be key members on the board who belong to local companies with deep pockets. We’ve done events where a major automobile dealership allowed the event in their showroom. Major department stores and financial institutions will underwrite the cost of the food and beverage leaving a larger share of the profits to the recipient of the event.

With the right connections those super sponsors are very possible – you just have to explore the probabilities with your committee. It’s another reason to have a decent sized committee – more connections.

The most practical sponsorship is to find table sponsors at a specified fee. Then you create signage for that table stating that the table is being provided by that business. You also give the business owner the opportunity to provide giveaways for that table and perhaps even the dealers wearing logo wear of the company.

Game Rules

Casino gaming is not designed to create winners. So, in order to provide a two to three hour entertainment concept you need to loosen up your casino rules a little. We cover that in The Magic Touch in “A Winning Combination – Casino Gaming for Fun and Profit.”

You’ll also find information on how to train your dealers and the concepts you want them to transfer to your guests, their players.

This is the point at which someone on your committee will need to understand casino gaming. There is no point to playing with hard and fast casino rules if you’re playing with scrip. You want the evening to be fun and entertaining and outrageous. So put someone in charge of the casino who has a fun attitude and salt the pot on the Hold’em table, give ‘em Mulligans on the Craps table, pay double on Blackjack and bonuses on suited “21s.” And don’t forget our secret weapon to double their payout or save their wager. Remember, the more outrageous, the better.

We suggest you order “A Winning Combination: Casino Gaming for Fun and Profit” from http://www.LowdownReports.com as soon as you know there is an event in your future. The Report is written so that it can be broken into sections for different committees and includes everything you need to know about planning the event including casino gaming rules and silent auction tips.

Entertainment Value of the Casino

We started this series with the comment that an interactive casino event is the best entertainment value you can offer your guests. We’re going to add well-planned to that statement. A casino event that is not well planned may or may not provide the entertainment you’re looking for.

We’ve been staging Casino Parties for over 20 years, averaging 100 to 150 events a year. That’s quite a history on which to base our comments. Add to that the fact that many of our events take place in the best hotels in Seattle, Washington – a major metropolitan area and many times there are more than our event going on in the hotel. All it takes is five minutes in the room of another event to see the difference in the entertainment being offered. Several seasons ago we had one night where we did three events at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Seattle. There were six events going on in the hotel that evening. I visited all six. Our three were hopping successes and the other three were nice parties.

Most parties will be nice if you take the time to plan them well. But what are your guests going to do for the five or six hours they’re there. Sit around and talk with people they talk to all day and then try to be polite to the spouses they don’t know.

Or at a fund-raising event, how are you going to keep people upbeat and interested in what’s going on if they’re only there because there partner is an auction hound.

We’ll repeat what we said earlier – Hands down, there is no better entertainment for just about any event.

Other Entertainment

If you go to http://LowdownReports.com/blog/ there is a page there in August of 2009 that talks about Other Entertainment. Companion entertainment works very well with a casino party – you just don’t want to book competitive entertainment.

What do I mean by competitive? Perfect example is an event we did a couple of years ago for a major software company – want to guess which one in Redmond, Washington. Anyway, the event was for 1200 people and the area for the event was divided into two spaces – one for the casino and one for one of the top bands in the Puget Sound area at the time. For the size of that casino they paid about $8,000 figuring that about 600 to 800 people might be in there at one time. They also paid $12,000 for the band.

What ended up happening – and this wasn’t the only time, just the best example – is that the guests ignored the band and crowded into the casino room all night waiting for their turn to play. We could have presented a more complete package with one of our high-end dj teams in the same room with the casino and had enough room for everyone to play.

We have several great Elvis impersonator’s here is the Seattle area and a really good one out of Portland, Oregon that works a lot in this area. When we book an Elvis to go along with the program we’ll divide the casino into two portions, then do what we can to create a Vegas Showroom effect and put on the stage show in the middle of the casino presentation. I’ve had Elvis dancing on the stage, dancing in the aisles and dancing with the guests and they love it.

Strolling magicians and palmists or horoscope readers are great additions because they can be in remote locations doing their more intimate presentations – moving between the guests throughout the evening.

Prizes for Winners

I’m always truly amazed when a Client will tell me, “No, we’re not going to do prizes – we want it to be just for fun.” What runs through my mind is this: “Why don’t you go out an buy a Porsche and let it sit in your driveway and look at it for fun?” Why on earth would you make the investment you do in an entertainment vehicle and then cut out the big climax.

Of course you should do prizes for your casino activity. Just how you do them is the BIG question. Part of what we do with each Client is work out the best way to do prizes based on their program for the evening.

“A Winning Combination – Casino Gaming for Fun and Profit” has multiple scenarios and suggestions depending on the purposes you want to achieve.

Our suggestion and vote goes to doing a raffle where all guests get prize tickets depending on how much money they won. The second is my least favorite – The “High Roller.” It’s my least favorite because there is such disparity between the games and the probabilities on the Craps table far outweigh any of the other tables, so winners are almost always from the Craps table. We put a couple of twists in there that we cover in “A Winning Combination” because there is one irrefutable fact that is very important:

A guest won’t mind so much if they don’t win as long as they feel they had a fair chance. If three prizes go to the top three money winners most people spend the whole evening realizing they have no chance of winning a prize and part of their entertainment value is lost. A little more thought into the Prize Process and you keep that entertainment value up to the end when they don’t win a prize anyway, but they’re happier thinking they could have. The Ultimate Reverse Psychology of The Fantasy Casino.

Do it Again

Whether you’re doing your first event or your fifth, we have broken down the elements of a “High Roller” Fantasy Casino Party into sections to be handled by committee people with one person as the main coordinator. If you’re doing a home party or a small corporate party one person can handle the details well as long as you’re working with a casino company or you have someone to take care of that part of the evening for you.

Part of our service when you purchase “A Winning Combination: Casino Gaming for Fun and Profit” is that we work with you during your first event. From one year from the time of purchase you simply email us your questions and we hold your hand through your event. If you event doesn’t happen in the first year, just let us know and we’ll extend your consultation time.

Our strong suggestion is that you keep the main report intact – either as a digital file or a hard copy. Then print out each section for each of the committees and give them their part of the Report on a disk along with a hard copy. Ask all of your committee people to return the updated Report and disk within two weeks after the event. Personal Opinion is that all updates should be done in a contrasting color, showing the original suggestion and then what your group did to adjust it and then what you felt the results were. Any of those changes that you would care to share with us, we’d love to hear them. Email to FantasyCasino@aol.com.

The overall suggestion is to keep one master Report, updated with all suggestions and use it the next time you do the event – or turn it over to someone else to handle.

We suggest you order “A Winning Combination: Casino Gaming for Fun and Profit” from http://www.LowdownReports.com/eShop.php as soon as you know there is an event in your future. The Report is written so that it can be broken into sections for different committees and includes everything you need to know about planning the event including casino gaming rules and silent auction tips.