How Lighting Creates a Unique Casino Ambiance

Picture the last beautiful casino that you walked into. Picture everything from the colour of the carpet to the finish on the tables and chairs to the artwork, wall colour, ceiling murals and even the lights. Apart from the slot machines blinking and chiming in the dim and vivid green of the tables dotted around the floor, what stands out to you most?

You’re probably thinking, “the vibe, just the whole vibe of the place, and that tells us two things: firstly, the casino has done an excellent job of crafting an atmosphere that people love being in, and two, they definitely have excellent lighting. Without ambiance, you have no vibes and ambiance is created chiefly by two things: sound and lighting. In this piece, we’re going to discuss lighting and how it’s beautifully employed in casinos to craft an atmosphere that makes people feel comfortable and at ease.

Different Kinds of Indoor Lighting

In commercial buildings, you’ll usually find three main types of light:

• Ambient lighting, such as overhead lights or wall-mounted fixtures, provides illumination that helps create an inviting atmosphere. Ambient lighting should be bright enough for people to move around the area safely and enjoy it without straining their eyes, but not so bright that it draws attention to any particular area over the others.
• Task lighting is there to improve productivity in work areas such as office desks over table games, where it’s essential to see what you’re doing.
• Accent lighting highlights particular areas or features within any space and provides interest and dimension.

What Role Does Lighting Play in Casino Ambiance?

Lighting isn’t just there to make things visible, it also plays a role in setting up the atmosphere, ambiance, vibe or feeling of a space and helps make visitors or guests get into the right headspace.

Good casino lighting creates a sense of anticipation and excitement, and the games or events as the stars of the show, which they are. It creates a dreamlike quality in the casino- the gambling floor and walkways are usually fairly dim (with emergency lights where necessary), and the table games are bright beacons in the semi-gloom that call you over to have a little bit of fun.

Lighting also gives designers the chance to give a room extra dimension, like making it appear taller than it is with arcing light aimed up at the ceiling. Lights also often appear in sign form, making it easy for guests and players to locate a coat check, the restrooms or a spot to cash in their chips.

Mood Lighting

The influence of lighting on the mood of a space can’t be underestimated. For example, the lighting at a poker table will be one colour (likely a warm white) and provide unobstructed views of the players and the dealer. A single colour and bright lighting create a space conducive to calm and concentration. At the casino’s bar, there’s likely to be a lot of coloured lighting, whether by actual bulbs or gels or by lampshades, that creates an intimate atmosphere conducive to relaxing, letting loose and having a good time.

Lighting overall in a casino is likely a lot dimmer than lighting in many spaces, stores excluded. The fact that most casinos avoid natural lighting from large windows contributes to the lighting concept and design in a major way, as many casinos have murals (especially on the ceiling) which replicate natural spaces and bring them inside to create a little calm in a space that could become frantic.

These murals are often focal points, whether gusts realise that or not, and require specific lighting to add to their effect. Casinos avoid natural light and choose murals to “let the outside in” so that casino guests aren’t focused on that time of day or night it is but rather on the fun they’re having on casino games.

Lighting in casinos also helps guests differentiate between areas that may not have walls or doors- it’s easy to tell where the brightly glowing slot games section ends and the table game floor or private gaming areas begin from their often vastly different design and lighting.

What Lighting Tricks Bring To The Table

There are so many lighting tricks that make us feel so many things, more often than not, without us even realising why.

• Warm lights create a cozy and intimate atmosphere that makes people relax and let their hair down. This could be warm white bulbs, electric candles or strip lighting highlighting areas like ceilings.
• Vibrant colours blinking on and off bring a sense of excitement that few other things are able to bring. They create urgency and a feeling of fun.
• “Natural” light, which doesn’t feature in casinos, is replicated by lighting daylight murals. This can be a calming influence in a space that could potentially be overwhelming to some.
• Dramatic lighting (aggressively tangled or stylised) can add flair to a space and give it more character than it might have at a bare-bones architectural level.

Casino Ambiance

Lighting in casinos is an integral part of how the casino looks and feels once guests come through the door. It can make them want to leave as soon as they get there, or stay forever, and the outcome is in the hands of casino owners and designers. Casinos that put the time and effort necessary into research and design planning will reap the results in the form of guests who come back to play time and time again.