The Best Casino-Themed Party Favours and Prizes: Expert Ideas for a Fun Casino Night

One of the questions we're asked surprisingly often at Mock Vegas is "What prizes should we have for our fun casino night?"

It's a great question because the right prizes can add excitement, create memorable moments and encourage everyone to join in. The wrong prizes, however, can spoil the atmosphere. After providing fun casino hire for corporate events, weddings, charity fundraisers, Christmas parties and private celebrations across Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Surrey, Sussex, Oxfordshire and beyond, we've learned that the best prizes aren't necessarily the most expensive ones. In fact, they're usually the opposite.

Keep the fun in your Fun Casino

A Mock Vegas event isn't about gambling. It's about laughter, friendly competition and giving everyone a chance to experience the glamour of a casino without risking a penny, that's why we always recommend keeping prizes modest. A bottle of prosecco is popular as a main prize. It looks the part, photographs well and everyone understands it's all just for fun.

Once expensive prizes enter the equation, some guests can start taking things seriously, becoming very competitive. They’ll ask for more fun money then everyone else, or ask our croupiers for "just a few extra chips" or to bump up their cheque when cashing out. Every now and then someone will even try to bend the rules a little. Fortunately our experienced croupiers have seen it all before in real casinos, but we'd much rather spend the evening keeping the atmosphere fun and entertaining than policing overly competitive guests. A fun casino works best when everyone remembers the money isn't real, but the fun certainly is.

Our Favourite Main Prizes

Over the years we've found that simple prizes create the happiest winners. Some popular ideas include a bottle of prosecco or champagne, a bottle of wine, spirit miniature gift sets, chocolate gift boxes, gift vouchers, novelty casino trophies, poker sets and playing cards.

It's the bragging rights people remember, not necessarily the value of the prize.

Spot Prizes Are Brilliant

One of the easiest ways to lift the atmosphere and delight guests is with spot prizes. Rather than waiting until the end of the evening, our croupiers can hand out small prizes during the games. they could announce, "The next player to get blackjack wins a prize" or perhaps "First person to hit a straight-up number on Roulette wins chocolate casino chips". These little surprises keep everyone engaged and encourage guests to stay involved throughout the evening.

If you’re contemplating spot prizes some ideas include:

Bags of chocolate money

Chocolate casino chips

Playing cards

Casino-themed keyrings

Wine or spirit miniatures

Plastic trophies

Corporate branded giveaways

These are inexpensive but ramp up the excitement.

How Do We Decide the Luckiest Players?

People often imagine that we simply look at the biggest pile of chips but there’s a bit more to it than that. Every table has a casino cheque book. When players leave a table, our croupiers issue them with a cheque showing the value of the chips they handed in. They can then go off for a dance or go to another game and use their cheque to get chips on that table.

At the end of the evening, our team compares notes. One croupier may say "I cashed someone out for 2,000 on Roulette" but another might say, "Yes... but they came over to blackjack and lost the lot!" so we need to narrow down the big cheques that have not been handed back in. Once that has been done (it doesn’t take long for experienced croupiers) we can identify your overall luckiest player(s).

You can have different categories. If appropriate, perhaps the luckiest guy and the luckiest lady, maybe the luckiest person under 16 if you have some children coming to a wedding. It's a simple system that has worked really well for years.

One of Our Favourite Moments...

You’d be surprised how often this happens - an eight-year-old wins the bottle of champagne at a wedding. They are absolutely thrilled of course and their parents are too. After all, they can’t drink it, can they? We usually suggest the youngster "sells" the bottle back to Mum and Dad in exchange for a video game or another suitable reward. Everyone understands and are still smiling, the child still feels like the evening's biggest winner and it's another memorable Mock Vegas moment.

Why We Say "Luckiest Player" Instead of "Best Player"

This is something we feel strongly about throughout our decades in the industry - we never describe someone as the ‘best player’. This is because our events are not real gambling and calling somebody the "best player" suggests skill and could imply that casino games are something they could master. In reality, our casino nights are about entertainment, socialising and enjoying the experience and that is why we always announce the ‘Luckiest Player’. It's a much more accurate description and perfectly matches the spirit of the evening.

Do Not Have Separate Roulette and Blackjack Winners

This is common mistake and unfortunately that simply does not work. Guests move freely between our roulette, blackjack and other casino tables throughout the evening. That’s just what we want them to do. Someone might build a healthy win on roulette but lose it all on blackjack, or vice versa. Since everyone plays multiple games, separate game winners simply aren't practical. We have no way to track who won how much on which game. Instead, we recommend recognising the overall luckiest player (or perhaps the top three, which is more than enough).

The "Unluckiest Player" Prize

Occasionally a client asks if we can award a prize to the worst player. I’m afraid this doesn’t quite work either, but there is away round that. Let’s say you have 200 guests all starting with exactly the same amount of fun money. If you're rewarding the luckiest player, technically everyone else lost the same amount – you’d need 199 ‘worst player’ prizes!

So instead, we suggest an ‘Unluckiest Player’ prize. There's almost always one confident guest who builds their chips up nicely before dramatically pushing everything onto red….. but black comes in. Those moments become legendary and always get a huge laugh, but just one huge groan. Mock Vegas croupiers are excellent at spotting these memorable moments. We can pick that player out for the wooden spoon prize.

Casino-Themed Spot Prizes (Especially Good For Corporate Events)

If you'd like guests to take something home, there are plenty of affordable casino-themed ideas available on eBay and Temu like gaming chip keyrings, playing cards, chocolate casino chips, chocolate money, dice keyrings, casino-themed plastic trophies. You really don't have to spend a fortune to create a lasting memory.

Different Events, Different Spot Prize Ideas

Different occasions often suit different prizes.

Corporate Events - branded power banks, reusable water bottles, vouchers, keyrings, stickers and fold-away shopping bags make excellent spot prizes while promoting your business.

Charity Casino Nights - donated prizes work brilliantly and help maximise fundraising.

Wedding Casino Hire - Mock Vegas already provides a bottle of champagne for the luckiest player, taking one job off your wedding planning list. If you'd like to add extra spot prizes, wedding favours work perfectly. If you have children attending how about a special appropriate prize for them?

Christmas Parties - chocolate Santas, chocolate coins, spirit miniatures and festive treats always prove popular.

Let Us Take Care of the Winners

Leave it to us. As we all worked in real casinos, part of that job is to keep an eye on big winners and losers. Our experienced croupiers keep track of the winning cheques throughout the evening and identify your luckiest player(s). We can present the prizes ourselves, or ask your DJ to build up the excitement, or hand everything over for you to make the presentation. Whichever you choose, we'll make sure your winners receive the applause they deserve.

Final Thoughts

The secret to great casino night prizes isn't spending lots of money, it's creating an exciting, fun atmosphere. Keep prizes affordable, keep the mood relaxed and let everyone enjoy the evening for what it is—a fantastic social experience filled with laughs, friendly competition and unforgettable moments. After decades of providing fun casino hire, we've found that simple prizes, enthusiastic croupiers and a little bit of luck always beat expensive trophies and serious competition.

If you would like more information, a quote or a friendly chat without commitment please call 08006127737 or use the contact page.