Services

Charity Casino Night Fundraisers

A charity casino night is a fundraiser built around casino-themed tables where guests buy in for chips, play for entertainment, and trade what they have left for prize drawing tickets. We bring the tables, the professional dealers, the chips and cards, and the California Department of Justice gambling division certification that a compliant charity event requires. We have helped raise over one million dollars for hundreds of California charities since 2006.

When a casino night is the right fundraiser

Casino nights work when your donor base wants to do something at the event rather than sit through a program. A gala dinner asks people to listen. A casino floor asks them to move around, talk, and stay past dessert. That difference matters for revenue, because guests who stay engaged buy more chips, bid on more silent auction items, and remember the night when the next ask comes.

They fit especially well for:

• Annual fundraisers that have gotten predictable and need a format change
• Corporate giving events where the sponsor wants branded, photographable moments
• Alumni, hospital foundation, and youth organization benefits with a wide age range in the room
• Any event where you want a long social window instead of a tight program

If your budget is small and your guest count is under about forty, a casino night can still work, but the math gets tighter. Call us and we will tell you honestly whether it makes sense. You can also look at events we run to see the range of formats we handle.

How the job actually works, start to finish

1. The planning call. We ask about guest count, venue, timeline, and what your fundraising goal is. That determines the table mix. A room of 150 with a lot of first-time players needs more blackjack and roulette and fewer poker tables. A room of poker regulars needs the opposite.

2. Format selection. Two structures cover most charity events. A chip-buy-in casino floor lets guests purchase chips at the door and at re-buy stations throughout the night, then exchange remaining chips for raffle tickets toward a prize table. A bracketed poker tournament runs on a fixed schedule with knockouts and a final table, and we can supply a female poker tournament director to run it. We walk through the revenue difference on how casino night charity fundraisers raise money.

3. Compliance. California has specific rules for charity gaming, and we are certified by the California Department of Justice gambling division for charity fundraisers. We handle the compliance side of the event on our end and tell you what your organization needs to have in place. We are not attorneys and we do not give legal advice, but we have done this hundreds of times and we will point you at what to ask. More on that in what you need to run a charity casino night in California.

4. Load-in and setup. We arrive ahead of guests, set the room, lay the felt, rack the chips, and brief the dealers on your specific prize structure. All chips, cards, and setup are included in the booking.

5. The event. Dealers run the tables, teach anyone who has never played, and keep the pace friendly. Our dealers are hired and trained in house, and teaching is a big part of what they do. A guest who is embarrassed at a blackjack table does not buy more chips.

6. Chip exchange and breakdown. Near the end we convert chips to prize tickets, run your drawing if you want us there for it, then break down and load out.

Chips have no cash value at any point. Nobody wagers money and nobody wins money. Play is for entertainment and prizes.

How long it takes

Most charity casino nights run three to four hours of active table play, which is about the window where energy holds. Shorter than two and a half hours and guests barely settle in. Longer than four and the room thins out before your drawing.

Setup and breakdown happen on either side of that, and the time needed depends on the venue: a ballroom with a loading dock is very different from a rooftop with one service elevator. We build the schedule around your venue access, not the other way around, and we confirm the timeline with you before the event.

Booking lead time varies with the season. Fall and December fill up first. Call as early as you have a date.

What it costs and what moves the price

We quote every fundraiser individually, because two events with the same guest count can differ substantially in what they need. The factors that move a quote:

• Number of tables. The single biggest driver. Table count is set by guest count and by how much of the room you expect to be playing at once.
• Table mix. Poker tables seat more players per dealer than blackjack. Roulette and craps carry different equipment.
• Dealer count and hours. Dealers are staffed to tables, and total hours include setup and breakdown, not just play time.
• Tournament direction. A bracketed poker tournament with a dedicated tournament director is a different scope than an open casino floor.
• Venue logistics. Load-in distance, elevators, stairs, parking, and union rules all affect labor.
• Travel. We are based in Los Angeles and travel throughout California. Distance factors in.

Tell us your guest count, date, venue, and fundraising target and we will build a real number. Use the booking form or call (866) 963-6557. We accept all major credit cards.

What to check before you hire anyone

Ask for the California Department of Justice gambling division certification for charity fundraisers. A company that runs charity events in this state should have it and should hand it over without hesitation. We do.

Ask about insurance. We carry event liability insurance, and most venues will require a certificate before load-in.

Ask who is dealing. Some companies subcontract to whoever is available that weekend. Our dealers are hired and trained in house, more than twenty of them, and the company has been owned, operated, and staffed entirely by women since Jodi Lee Screpnek founded it in 2006.

Ask what is included. Chips, cards, and setup should not be line items you discover later. With us they are part of the booking.

Finally, ask whether they have run fundraisers specifically, not just corporate parties. The chip exchange, the prize structure, and the compliance piece are what separate a fundraiser from a party with tables in it.