To the uninitiated or unobservant, you might assume casinos only exist in gaming cities like Las Vegas or Macau. It’s a romantic idea, but with physical casinos enticing customers to tables all over the world, it’s wildly inaccurate.
According to statistics, the USA alone has over 2,000 casinos, ten times more than you’ll find in Las Vegas. On the other side of the Atlantic, the UK is home to approximately 300, similar to Spain, Czechia and Romania.
If we include online casinos, there are over 5,000 operating globally and that number is growing every day. “Don’t dilly dally, get on Bally,” is the message from the UK’s latest arrival, brought from America by Virgin Games.
Building a casino resort isn’t easy, or cheap, but, if you get it right, you’ll always be the winner. It’s an interesting idea, and certainly appealing, but how would you do it?
There’s plenty of inspiration to take onboard, from online contenders and local houses to the mega casinos of Las Vegas. To help you get started in negotiating such a huge project, here’s how to build the ultimate casino resort.
1. Legally Speaking
Before you get into the fun stuff, it’s important to get everything straight with the authorities. Casinos are one of the world’s most regulated industries, so make sure you’re above the law in every way.
Gaming and alcohol licences will be needed, you should also enforce any local age restrictions and always meet cash-on-hand requirements. With all this in mind, getting an experienced legal team on board should be one of your first tasks.
2. Business Time
Unless you’re one of the lucky few with several million at your disposal, you’ll need to get finances in place. This means putting a business plan together and approaching banks, venture capitalists, or anyone who can fund your dream.
At this point, you’ll also want to do some market research into what has made existing casinos successful. You’re not the first to launch a casino, so learn from the mistakes and triumphs of those who’ve gone before.
3. Location, Location
The next thing to decide is where to build your casino. In the city, where footfall is high but so are costs, or somewhere cheaper that clients must travel to?
There’ll be several options and you need to analyze them all for the best chance of success. It’s also during this process you’ll determine the size of your casino, boutique and exclusive, or enormous and impressive.
4. Finding a Theme
Here’s where you can have a little fun, what theme do you want to style your casino around? Do you want canals like The Venetian, pyramids like the Luxor, or a big top like Circus Circus?
Of course, if you’re not competing with the Vegas Strip you might prefer to stay a little more subtle. Even so, you’ll need to choose between cool and understated, glitzy and glamorous, whimsical, and fun, or anything in between.
5. Game Making
Perhaps the most important part of any casino is the games. Do you want to focus on classic card games with areas for poker and blackjack, or on rows of slots?
Will you separate the main floor from the high rollers, or let shouts from the roulette table entice people in? This will be the key to your casino’s success, so give careful consideration to every aspect.
6. Added Entertainment
The next thing to plan is the supplementary attractions your casino will have. You could choose a pure gaming establishment, or embellish it with nightclubs, concert stages, restaurants, a hotel, or more.
Researching what else is on offer nearby will pay dividends here, as will understanding how hard you need to work to pull crowds.
7. Safety and Security
If Hollywood movies like Ocean’s 11 have taught us anything, it’s that somebody will definitely want to rob your casino! In reality, that may not be accurate, but security is still essential for the safety of your customers and finances.
That means making sure you have the latest technology and a strong security staff, otherwise your casino won’t last long.
8. Launch Party
So your casino is licensed, planned, built, safe, staffed and filled with games and entertainment – it’s time to launch. This is a crucial moment; you need a fantastic marketing plan from advertising to a first-night fanfare.
You need the world to know you’ve arrived and have them beating a path to your door. Get this right, and it’s plain sailing; get it wrong and you could face an uphill struggle.
So, that’s it. Easy, right?
Of course, every one of these steps takes a huge amount of research, understanding, and planning. Even if launching online the process could take three months, for a physical casino it could be years.
If you’re in it for the long haul, however, and prepared to work, this is the basic map you’ll need.