Guides

How Much Space Does Each Casino Table Need?

Plan on roughly 100 square feet per table, or a 10 by 10 foot square, which covers the table, the chairs, the players standing behind them, and the dealer. Craps and roulette want more. Blackjack and poker fit comfortably in that square. Everything below is how to check your own room and how to know when the math is tighter than it looks.

The short answer, table by table

Casino party tables are built to fold and travel, so they run a little smaller than what you would see on a real casino floor. Here are the working numbers we use when we lay out a room. The first figure is the table itself, the second is the space you should reserve around it once players and a dealer are in position.

• Blackjack: table is about 6 to 7 feet wide and 3 to 4 feet deep (the classic half moon). Reserve about 10 by 8 feet. Seats seven players plus the dealer.
• Poker: table is about 8 feet long and 4 feet wide, oval. Reserve about 12 by 9 feet. Seats eight to ten.
• Roulette: the layout plus the wheel end runs about 8 feet long and 3 to 4 feet wide. Reserve about 12 by 9 feet. Roulette draws standing spectators, so give it a little extra on the long side.
• Craps: the biggest footprint by a wide margin. Party craps tables commonly run 10 to 12 feet long and about 4 feet wide. Reserve about 16 by 10 feet. Craps is a standing game with two long rails of players and a crowd behind them.
• Money wheel or big six: the smallest, often 3 to 4 feet of floor plus a standing pocket. Reserve about 6 by 6 feet.

Two more numbers worth writing down. A dealer needs about 3 feet of standing lane behind the table, and you want at least 4 feet of walking aisle between one table's player zone and the next. If the party has a bar on one wall and a buffet on another, make those aisles 5 feet.

For total room size, a mixed casino floor with a bar and room to mingle usually wants about 10 square feet per guest. A hundred guests, four tables, a bar and a few cocktail tables is comfortable in roughly 1,000 to 1,200 square feet and cramped under 800.

What actually changes the number

The table dimension is the easy part. What moves the answer up or down is everything happening around it.

Seated versus standing games. Blackjack and poker are seated. The chairs pull out, so the real depth is the table plus about 3 feet per side. Craps and roulette are standing games and they attract onlookers. A hot craps table at a corporate party can pull fifteen people into a space built for ten.

Whether the room is only a casino room. If the tables are the whole event, you can run tighter aisles and let the crowd cluster. If you are sharing the space with a dance floor, a DJ, a photo booth, dinner rounds or a silent auction, the tables get squeezed and you need to protect the aisles on paper before the trucks arrive.

Traffic pattern. People move between the bar, the restrooms and the exit. Any aisle on that route is a hallway, not a viewing spot, and it needs to stay 5 feet clear. Tables placed across a natural path get bumped all night.

Obstructions you stop seeing. Columns, planters, a service door the caterer needs, a low soffit, a fire extinguisher cabinet, the emergency exit that legally cannot be blocked. Ballrooms are honest about this. Backyards, restaurant patios and office lobbies are not.

Indoors versus outdoors. Outside you need level ground, not just flat looking ground. A roulette wheel on a slope is a problem. You also need light after sunset. Guests cannot read a layout in ambient patio glow, and dealers cannot count chips in it.

How to check your own room in about fifteen minutes

You do not need a floor planning program. You need a tape measure and a roll of painter's tape.

1. Measure the usable space, not the room. Start at the walls, then subtract anything you cannot move: the bar, the buffet line, the DJ corner, the coat rack, the doorway swing.
2. Tape a 10 by 10 square on the floor for each blackjack or poker table you want, and a 16 by 10 rectangle for craps. Use full size tape lines, not chalk marks in the corners. Seeing the real footprint changes people's minds fast.
3. Walk the aisles. Walk them sideways carrying an imaginary drink. If you turn your shoulders, the aisle is too narrow.
4. Sit in a chair at the edge of a taped square and push back like you are standing up. That is the depth people forget.
5. Measure the path in. Doorway width, hallway turns, stair landings, elevator depth. Most casino party tables fold and clear a standard 32 inch door, but a 12 foot craps table needs a straight run and a turn radius that a tight residential hallway may not give you. Measure the narrowest point, not the front door.
6. Look up. Chandeliers, ceiling fans and low beams matter over a roulette wheel and over anyone standing at craps.

Write the numbers down. If you send us a rough sketch with wall lengths and where the bar and doors are, we can tell you what fits before you commit to a venue.

Mistakes we see, and what they cost

Counting the room's square footage instead of the open floor. A 1,500 square foot event room with a built in bar, a stage and forty dinner chairs is not a 1,500 square foot casino floor. This is the single most common miscalculation, and it usually surfaces the hour before doors.

Buying one table too many. Hosts often want a table for every guest. In practice not everyone plays at once. Roughly one table per 20 to 25 guests keeps every seat busy and the room lively. Add a table beyond that and you get half empty layouts and a crowded floor at the same time, which is the worst of both.

Forgetting the dealer's lane. People measure to the edge of the table and stop. Push a table against a wall and the dealer cannot get behind it, which means that game does not run.

Blocking an exit or a service door. Venues will make you move the table, usually mid setup, usually into the aisle you needed.

No plan for load in timing. Tables come in, get assembled, get felt checked and chip trays set. If the caterer is flipping the room at the same time through the same door, both crews slow down.

Outdoor lighting. A backyard party that looked perfect at 5pm goes dark at 8. String lights are ambience, not task light. Ask the venue or your rental company what lighting is available near each table position.

When you can handle this yourself, and when to call

If you have one or two tables going into a room you know well, do it yourself. Tape the squares, check the door, done. You do not need anyone's help for a birthday party with a blackjack table in the den, and we would rather tell you that than sell you a site visit you do not need.

Call when the layout has real consequences. That means a fundraiser where you need clear sightlines to a stage and an auction area, an odd shaped or multi level venue, a rooftop or patio with a tricky load in, or an event where the table count is still up for debate. It also means any event where you are choosing between two venues and the space question is the tiebreaker.

We have been laying out casino floors from a Los Angeles base since 2006, in ballrooms, offices, backyards and lobbies across California, and we bring the chips, cards and setup with us. If you want a read on your space, send the dimensions or a floor plan and we will tell you honestly what fits. Start with our casino party rentals page, or go straight to the layout questions specific to charity casino night fundraisers and corporate casino parties. You can also call (866) 963-6557 and describe the room to us.

One note on how these games work at a private event: this is casino themed entertainment. Chips have no cash value and play is for fun and prizes only. That matters for layout too, because prize tables and raffle displays need floor space of their own.