ABOUT DISCOUNT CASINO PARTIES
THE INVENTORS OF THE ORIGINAL CASINO NIGHT, IN 1979
Over the years we have performed in Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York City, all in the same evening for the same client!
We did the casino tailgate party for Super Bowl XX on the President Riverboat in New Orleans.
We staffed, set up, ran and produced the “thank you” casino sports bar party for the BellSouth employees who worked as volunteers for the 1996 Summer Olympics; all 2,400 of them!
The Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority hired us to represent them at trade shows throughout North America for 5 consecutive years. we set up casino parties in more than 30 cities for the city of Las Vegas.
We produced the grand openings of two “real” Harrah’s casinos, in Kansas City and San Diego. At each, we had more than 100 entertainers.
We founded the International Special Events Society in 1984 on a shuttle bus in Dallas with eight other innovators; now it’s a worldwide organization with 5,000 members!
We really love what we do, and we have literally done it all!
RICK KANFER, FOUNDER
THE FATHER OF THE CASINO PARTY
I first went to Vegas in ’73. I went with a buddy, direct from college at Tulane to the Sahara Hotel & Casino, specifically to see Don Rickles live. We knew he was the best comic going, and we laughed so hard we nearly fainted! what we didn’t know was the lure, excitement, and sheer power that playing casino games brought to people; we were like Christopher Columbus discovering a new world, and I knew I wanted to bring that power and excitement to the fledgling event industry.
Fast forward a few years and now I am working as a staff accountant at a 50-person firm and they ask me to plan their Christmas party. that’s when world’s collided and I arranged a casino party. To say it was exactly what I experienced at the Sahara in Las Vegas would be an understatement; it was even better! People I knew intimately lost their inhibitions; they were yelling, cheering and hi-fiving, all the while playing with monopoly money! Nothing at stake, nothing to lose. that wasn’t the point, though, it was the playing of the games and the realistic theatrical atmosphere accomplished with dealers (actors) and games (props); and even more importantly, they didn’t have to “loosen up” with a cocktail to have a great time!
I have hosted more than a million people at casino events since then; I have been responsible for entertaining another five million more, at events I have produced all over the world. I’ve hired Jay Leno, Steely Dan, Kool & The Gang, and even some of my lifetime heroes, Captain Kirk and Roger Daltrey. And I am very much looking forward to hosting your next event!
Sincerely yours,
Rick Kanfer