Not Just For Kids Anymore: The Block-and-Mortar Lego Casino

Lego isn’t just for kids. It allows you to create the world as you would have it, so why not get creative and build your own Lego casino?

Due to its social responsibility not to promote gambling among youth, the popular toy company Lego does not make a casino kit. But Lego enthusiasts and gamblers alike need not despair, as there are plenty of ways to build your own using standard Lego pieces. Most of the fun comes from improvisation anyway, doesn’t it?

We put on our thinking caps as well as did some digging around as to what a Lego casino would look like, how to make specific items like slot machines and poker tables, and which of our favorite Lego characters would frequent the casino.

Your own world-class resort casino

First things first, let’s focus on the physical construction of the entire complex. One of the best things about Lego is that you can create pretty much whatever you want. Do you want your casino to be located inside a pirate ship or a space station? You can go the conventional route and build an exact replica of a classic Vegas institution like the MGM Grand or Bellagio, or get creative and use your own design.

Remember, people go to brick-and-mortar rather than online casinos in the US, UK and Macau because they want to be entertained. Your casino should have more than just a gambling floor. Make hotel rooms, a concert venue, a bar and a swimming pool. You can have Lego Wayne Newton performing live every evening for your guests. Lego gives you the opportunity to play God, so make something truly unique.

Who will play there?

Over the years Lego has made more characters than can be counted. There are the classics like the pirate, the policeman, the guy in a tuxedo (we’ll refer to him as the “high-roller”) and the conquistador. There are larger-than-life historical figures such as William Shakespeare, Abraham Lincoln and John Lennon. You can even throw in some wild cards like the panda, Frankenstein’s monster, Luke Skywalker and James Bond. No casino is complete without James Bond.

Your casino can cut across space, time and even reality, putting Abraham Lincoln, James Bond and a panda bear at the same poker table. Conventional wisdom would have it that Bond would win easily in such a scenario, as Honest Abe doesn’t seem fit for success at gambling and a panda bear is, well, a panda bear. That and Bond won a pile of Le Chiffre’s cash in Casino Royale. But it’s your casino, and things can unfold any way you wish.

Table games

Luckily for us Lego already has paper money and gold pieces, so it will be easy enough to simulate the financial end of things.
No casino chips, but the small round pieces provide a serviceable stand-in. And if you prefer to do a cash-only casino, more power to you.

• Lego doesn’t make a casino kit, but there are infinite ways of improvising your own casino down to the last detail

• You can fill the blackjack table with any combination of players from Lego’s massive cast of characters, including standard characters, historical figures and fictional heroes like James Bond and Luke Skywalker

• Please be a responsible casino owner and make a treatment facility to go along with your casino

Lego does make a playing card piece, so let’s start with some Vegas-style table games.

We can build a table out of standard pieces and put guys in white tuxedos and bowties around it. The high-roller wields his cards as the dealer hands him more and more chips.

The provided card piece contains a hand of five cards, perfect for stud poker but not really fitting any other card game. That doesn’t mean that your casino can’t host baccarat, blackjack or Texas Hold’ Em, but you’ll have to overlook this minor detail.

Lego slot machine

What casino is complete without slot machines? There are countless ways to make a Lego one-armed bandit. You can follow Youtube video tutorials or just mess around with pieces until you have your own improvised creation. As for the tutorials, some are better than others. One kid in Britain posted a video with a step-by-step on how to build a slot machine out of standard pieces.

This kid’s brilliant example looks just like a real slot machine and requires only 23 pieces, including plates, bricks, tiles, brackets and a lever. As all of these pieces are standard, so you can make several of these machines to fill up the casino floor. Lego Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn will be pleased with all of the Lego cash funneling into their Lego pockets.

Lego gambling addiction treatment services

Where there is gambling there is gambling addiction. Gambling laws in Britain
and some US states require casinos to contribute part of their revenue to public programs dealing with addiction to the activity. Be a responsible casino owner and build a treatment facility. After your Lego high-roller blows his entire stack of dollars or pirate gold (he may actually be a pirate) he can dejectedly make his way over to the treatment facility to get help for his problem. There he will be met by professional counselors as well as the support network provided by other Lego characters struggling with the same problems he is. Let’s hope Abe Lincoln doesn’t develop a gambling problem. I would just be too heartbroken…