Free Craps Table

As I have shared many times before, I am a long-time volunteer at a local, private school that has frequent "Millionaire Parties" to raise money. It's real gambling however, its mostly of the $1 -$10 per-bet variety.

For anybody who has ever been involved in one of these events, you know that it is extremely difficult to make money. That's because you typically start your event in the in the red with a hall rental and equipment rental. Then, should you have to hire dealers, add that to the mix. All these costs have to come out of gambling profits--should the house win. Remember it's still "gambling".

For most, the biggest of these cost components is equipment rental. No matter how much or how little you make during an event, the equipment supplier must be paid. For this reason, we own 100% of our equipment and tables which number about 50 between blackjack, holdem, craps, roulette, roulette and several wheels. It's a BIG operation staffed almost entirely by volunteers.

One of our most popular (and profitable) games is craps. We currently own a 14' casino-grade craps table. During our biggest event in the spring, there's not enough spots on the table for all the people to play. And, if they cant play, the house can't win.

So, the logical answer is to acquire another table. The trouble is that shipping on the thing is as much, if not more, than the table. Recently, a 14' casino-quality table was for for sale here in the Detroit area. A gentleman had it is his basement and it was in absolute brand new condition. He wanted $3,500 for the table. That's a good price but not a great price.

Rather than bicker over price, I simply asked the fellow if he would consider simply donating the table to the school and then he could use it as a tax deduction. He thought about it for about 10 seconds and asked who would move the table. I responded that we would handle everything and we could be there tomorrow. With that, he said "come get your table." YES!

Now, with this addition to our fleet, we can handle 30 craps players as opposed to only 15 or so. The only challenge now is training and/or hiring additional dealers.

While I'm delighted that we acquired this much needed table that we'll use for decades, the real moral of this story is "the ask". For those of you in sales and/or in charitable fundraising, you know exactly what i mean. Specifically: they can't say "yes" or "no"---unless you ask!!!

Good job!

Sweet.

Don't forget to ask him the other questions: At our next casino night, do you want to watch the action on your table, or be part of it? Would you want to be a dealer or a player?

The tricky thing with non-cash donations is who is responsible for the "Fair Market Value" on the receipt? I'm not certain, but a qualified independent appraisal (unlike the "buddy who knows everything about these" on PawnStars) may be required by the IRS come tax time (Google "Publication 561").

Quote: Ayecarumba

The tricky thing with non-cash donations is who is responsible for the "Fair Market Value" on the receipt? I'm not certain, but a qualified independent appraisal (unlike the "buddy who knows everything about these" on PawnStars) may be required by the IRS come tax time (Google "Publication 561").

You are correct. Any donation that has a stated value of $5,000 or greater must be supported by appraisal provided by an independent, third-party, qualified source--someone other than your brother-in-law.