2020 has been a difficult year but on the plus side, it has been a year that has forced us to think outside of the box when it comes to entertainment and socialising. If like many, you were a fan of trips to the casino before 2020 why not make 2021 the year that the casino comes to you?
Stuck on ideas of what to buy, what to build and what to include in your home casino? Fear not, we’ve got you covered. Read on to find out everything you need to know about building your own, home casino.
Space
The Bellagio – Las Vegas’ most famous casino – has a floor space of 156,000 square feet, which is quite a lot… Your own homemade casino isn’t going to need anywhere near as much, but space will still be a consideration.
If you’re looking to bring the casino to you then you’re probably doing so to provide a fun place where you and all of your friends can hang out. So, make sure you’ve got enough space to accommodate guests and the equipment that you want to have.
A garage or a well-size indoor room will usually suffice, so long as it’s big enough to fit a couple of tables and around 10 chairs. If you want to locate your casino in your shed, you’d better have a pretty big shed!
Now, let’s move on to some of the games you might want to play in your casino and how best to go about setting them up.
Poker
There’s no doubt that poker is the most popular casino game in the world, played by millions around the globe on a daily basis. To augment your homemade poker evening’s, you’ll need to make your set-up look and feel like the real deal.
The easiest way to do this is by cutting out the hassle and buying a pre-built poker table online. A quick search on Amazon will highlight plenty of options to suit almost every kind of budget but beware, the best tables do come with a high price tag.
If you want to get the best-looking poker table available for the lowest cost, think about building your own. Here’s a list of materials that you’ll need to get you started;
- 2 sheets ¾” plywood 84” by 42”
- Scrap wood
- A bag of 1 ¼” wood screws
- Wood glue
- Spray adhesive
- 2” machine bolts nuts
- 2 x folding table legs
- Jigsaw
- Power drill
- ¾” Forstner Bit
- Palm sander
- Stapler & staples
- Knife
- Tape measure
- Straight edge
- Hammer
- Nails
- Poker speed cloth
- Vinyl
- Foam
You can be creative with how you assemble and design your table, or you can watch the YouTube video below for a step-by-step guide on how to turn your materials into a quality poker table.
(Follow X3WD’s steps to make your own poker table or be creative and think outside the box.)
After buying or making your own poker table you’ll have to start looking at chairs and a poker set. Both of which can’t be bought relatively inexpensively or made if you have a creative flair and time to spare.
The spare wood from your table could be put to good use by fashioning it into bespoke, homemade chips. The only part of your poker layout that can’t really be made at home to any high standard is cards.
Don’t worry though as a good deck of cards or a custom set can be bought for roughly the same price as a six-pack of beer.
Slots
Every casino worth its salt dedicates over half of its gaming space to slot machines. They’re the most popular casino games and as a result, the biggest revenue driver.
Unless you’re an experienced product designer with a home lab, you’re not going to be able to make your own slot machine. Instead have a look on sites like eBay and see if you can find an old slot going spare.
At auction you can probably pick one up for a couple of hundred dollars. What’s best about it though is that you’ll get the keys to the cash safe, meaning you’ll be able to recoup all the money you spend playing it.
What’s more, if you’ve got a big group of friends round for the evening, you’ll be able to rake in a big haul once the night is finished.
(Make sure you don’t end up like Will Ferrell’s hapless character in this movie!)
Roulette
The most glamorous of all casino games, sure to get the adrenaline pumping amongst your friendship group is roulette. Similarly, to your poker venture, you can make your own table relatively easily and cheaply.
However, you’ll want to buy a ready-made wheel as that’s not so easy to make at home. Depending on the quality, you can pick up a wheel for as little as $50. The table itself is what will get all of the attention so don’t worry about pushing the boat out for a super expensive wheel.
Any money you save here can be put to good use in putting together the most important aspect of any home casino – the bar!