Casino Night- Good or bad Fundraiser?

[Jon Stratis]

After checking local laws and with your school officials, a casino night idea can be a great way to earn money. In fact, my fraternity back at school did one every spring to raise money for the Hole in the Wall Gang.

Generally speaking, Casino nights shouldn't be done with real gambling - it's way to easy to get cheated and end up loosing money as an organization. Instead, people buy chips or monopoly money at the door, then gamble with that. They can then take their winnings and use them to buy raffle tickets. If you go around to area stores and businesses, you'll find that you can get a pretty significant number of prizes for free, mostly in the form of $20-$50 gift cards (restaurants tend to be the best, i think). Also, the biggest key to making an event like this successful is getting people in the door - It's critical that you do some great advertising and get a lot of people there. a packed house makes it more fun for everyone, brings you more money, and ensures that people will come back next year.

If it's your first year doing this, start simple - maybe some poker tables and blackjack... Games like Roulette or Craps can be difficult to setup or difficult to run/understand the rules, and should only be taken on if you're confident you can pull them off without any disputes.

Trust me, Casino nights can be a great fund raising opportunity, but as in everything else you have to do your due diligence to ensure you won't get in trouble with any of the authorities (police or school).