How To Legally Host A Gambling Fundraiser

Hosting a casino fundraiser is an excellent way of sourcing funds for a cause you care about. People are more likely to donate generously if they are having a good time at the fundraiser party.

Gambling is fun and for most people, it is an out of the ordinary activity. Therefore, gambling charity events are usually a hit, but in order to host one, you will have to consider several things.
From local legislation to the practicalities there are many considerations to be made and you’ll probably need the help or at least advice of professionals such as lawyers, caterers and gaming professionals.

In this article, we are discussing these considerations with a Polish iGaming expert, Jacek Michałski who knows the Polish gambling industry inside and out. If you are about to create such an event, these are the key points to consider.

1. Choose a charity

Your first step should be choosing a charity. You can analyse your target audience and try to figure out what causes they may care about. Is it more likely that they will care about a local issue or an international one? Would they like to be helping people, animals or target environmental issues?

After you have decided on the charity, you should set a fundraising target. Setting a target is important. If you leave the target vague, there is nothing specific to achieve and people will be less likely to stretch their donations to reach the target.

You can talk to the charity of your choice and discuss what project they are working on at the moment. There may be a specific task – e.g building a new school in Guatemala, providing vaccination for children in impoverished countries or building a skate park in Krakow.

2. Create hype for your event

A charity casino event may sound foreign to people. Many people have never been to a brick-and-mortar casino or visited casinos online.

For example, Poland only has 8 land-based casinos and these are only found in large cities. So be prepared that many of your attendees will not even know how to play blackjack, let alone baccarat or craps. You can encourage your invitees to practice with free casino games in reputable online casinos, such as the ones you can find on trusted casino review sites, like https://kasynos.online/.

They can get their heads around the games before the event so that they wouldn’t feel so lost or embarrassed at the fundraiser.

3. Make sure your event is legal

Gambling laws can be very different in different countries so there is no one-size-fits-all advice when it comes to hosting a charity gambling event. You should study the local charitable gambling laws to make sure you are not breaking any. There can be completely different legislation for different gambling games.

In Poland, slot machines are only allowed to operate inside casinos, however, you may be able to organize a poker tournament or a bingo event subject to notifying the authorities first.

You should contact the correct people to ask the right questions regarding the legality of your event. You may want to consult with a lawyer to get a clear picture of how to go about organizing the event. Speaking to your local council is also a good idea and it could be your starting point.

4. Find out about legislation on prizes

Your casino event will surely have some lucky winners who can take home cash and non-cash prizes. Again, you should find out about the legality of these prizes. On non-cash prizes, there may be a cap and certain items may not be eligible to be prizes. On the other hand, cash prizes may have to be declared and the winners may have to pay tax on them. You should be clear on these to make sure you are not committing any crime and neither are your attendees.

5. Consider how the money will be raised

If your fundraiser has a casino theme, there are multiple ways of raising money throughout the event. You could raise money through:

• Selling tickets for the event
• Accepting donations at the event
• Selling additional chips
• Selling food and drinks
• Having an auction
• Organizing special games such as raffles, bingo or wheel of fortune-type games
• Charging for private rooms or tables for groups
• Sponsorship

6. Plan the event

There are plenty of considerations if you are hosting a large event. You’ll have to prepare a budget that includes the following:

• Staff expenses: you’ll need to hire caterers, professional dealers, cloakroom attendants, cleaners, musicians and other entertainers. There may be significant fees you have to pay to lawyers who can help you with the legalities.
• Food and beverage expenses: you’ll have to plan your profit margin on food and beverage and consider the cost of free food and beverage (if any) being offered at the party.
• The cost of buying promotional material and decoration.
• Advertising costs including paid social media.
• Printing costs of tickets and invitations.
• Rent and insurance costs: the venue will need to be rented for the event and it is a good idea to insure it as well.
• Rental costs of casino equipment.

7. Look for sponsors and volunteers

The more you can save on the costs, the more you can donate to your chosen charity. You can ask people to volunteer at your event. You can reach out to people you know and ask for help or contact other local charities or the local church to ask if they could put you in contact with their volunteers.

Similarly, you can contact local companies to ask if they would be interested in sponsoring your event. They may be able to help with money or they could get you their products or services that can be prizes for the raffle, bingo or some other tournament at your event.

Hotel stays, spa treatments, tickets to music events, restaurant vouchers, designer items or artwork could all work. A local print shop may do the printing for you for free and a local brewery may donate some of its craft beers for the event. This could work for them as an advertisement too.

Conclusion

As you can see, organizing a casino fundraiser is not that easy. There are multiple considerations to be made to comply with the law and to provide great entertainment for your guests. Many of the considerations are country-specific though, so Googling charity events in your local area should be your starting point.