Top 10 World Records Set at Casinos

Jessica Lamb

April 1st, 2019

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Casinos have been the scene of some of the craziest world records ever set. Everything from card throwing to giant poker, gigantic wedding cakes and cheeseburgers are among the world records set by at casinos.

These records, many featuring in the Guinness Book of World Records, have been set on and off the casino floor, in all sorts of places. Here we take a look at 10 of the most bizarre world records casinos have been involved in:

1. Farthest Playing Card Throw

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   The farthest playing card throw was achieved by Rick Smith, Jr., which reached 65.96 metres (216ft, 4ins) way back in 2002. That throw also gave Smith, an American magician known for his work with playing cards, the world record for fastest card throw, the playing card hitting 92mph.

   Smith set both world records on March 21, 2002 at the Convocation Centre in Cleveland, Ohio. He later set the standard for Most Accurate Playing Card Throw at 46 on April 22, 2014, and Highest Throw of a Playing Card,

   The later world record still stands at Smith's 21.41 metres (70ft 3ins), having been set on March 14, 2015, at the Great Lakes Science Centre in Cleveland.

   Building on his achievements, the professional card thrower later put together a collection of instructional videos on card throwing and pitched it to five big-time investors on the primetime US television show, Shark Tank. He also made it to the Vegas Round of Season 5 of America’s Got Talent, but chose balloon-popping as his act, and failed to pop all the balloons. No quarter-finals for you Rick.

2. Largest Playing Card Fan

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   The world record for holding the largest fan of playing cards is currently held by Ralf Laue and was set in March of 1994. Laue held 326 cards in a fan formation, with the colour and value of each card visible.

   Ralf Laue has beaten this record several times himself, thanks to his rivalry with fellow German George Stefandis, which ran from 1988 up to Laue's 1994 attempt. These two swapped world records four times in that period. Laue has set many other world records, including in letter opening, pancake flipping, and fastest game of Operation.

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3. Tallest Free-Standing House of Cards

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   In 2007, American Architect Bryan Berg bettered his own world record for the Tallest House of Cards for the ninth time when revealing a towering structure that measured 7.86m (25ft 9in) for the State Fair of Texas in Dallas.

   Berg used 1,000 decks of cards to build the main town alone, requiring another 100 for the other card houses. No tape or glue was used to build his house of cards and, like all the others, he knocked the whole thing down himself, publicly, to prove that it was indeed the largest free-standing house of cards.

   In his quest to continue to push the Tallest House of Cards world records, Berg has built some incredible free-standing structures, including a replica of the Venetian Casino in Macau, China, one of the top 10 casinos in the world. He's also built Cinderella's Castle from Walt Disney World.

4. Largest Wedding Cake

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   This might look odd in a list of casino-related world records, but casinos don't just do card games. Back in 2004, the Mohegan Sun Hotel and Casino held the New England Bridal Showcase. At it, the hotel's chefs baked what remains the world's largest wedding cake ever.

   Seven tiers of vanilla wedding cake towered more than five metres (17ft) up to the casino ceiling, chef Lynn Mansel's creation weighing a world record 6.818 tonnes (15,032lbs) - a wedding cake weight smashing the previous record of 2.424 tonnes (5,344lbs).

   Encased in more than two tonnes of vanilla and almond frosting, the world's largest wedding cake took seven days to assemble, Mansel assisted by a team of 55. It was first cut on February 8, 2004, with much of the 59,000 servings ending up in troughs at a pig farm in nearby Montville.

5. Largest Bacon Cheeseburger

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   Black Bear Casino Resort near Carlton, Minnesota holds the record for the world’s biggest bacon cheeseburger. Weighing in at 914kg (2,014lbs), the massive burger was part of the casino’s Big Burger Bash in 2012.

   Guinness World Records was in attendance to document the achievement, which bested the previous record-holder of only 400kg (881lbs). The colossal burger measured three metres (10ft) in diameter and consisted of 18kg (40lbs) of cheese, 27kg (60lbs) of bacon, another 18kg of pickles, and 23kg (50lbs) each of lettuce and sliced onions.

   A crane was used to flip the giant patty, which took hours to cook. The burger was estimated to contain a whopping 4.1 million calories! When it was done, all of the gamers in the casino got to help eat it.

6. Most Guitars Smashed

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   What’s the best way to celebrate the opening of a new parking garage at a casino? With a world record guitar smashing, of course! That’s exactly what Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida did back in 2010. Guinness World Records witnessed all 1,914 participants smash the acoustic guitars as part of the grand opening celebration.

   “Why would anyone want to destroy so many perfectly good guitars?” you might ask. Don’t worry; they were allegedly non-musician-quality guitars. Additionally, Seminole Hard Rock donated $50,000 worth of real guitars to local schools in support of music education.

7. Most Time Spent Dealing Blackjack

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   A typical workday for a full-time casino dealer is eight hours, one hour of dealing at a time, followed by a 20-minute break. Occasionally, the boss will leave you on the table for longer than an hour, if you are running hot, which means that you are taking players' money.

   But in August 2001, Blackjack dealer Stephen De Raffaele of Malta spent 51 hours and 33 minutes dealing Blackjack at the Oracle Casino. He stopped every eight hours for a 15-minute break.

8. Largest Slot Machine Tournament

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   Slot machines are a heavy favorite in most land-based and online casinos. In Las Vegas alone they have a citizen-to-slot machine ratio of 8:1, so it came as quite a surprise when the largest ever slot machine tournament was recorded in Auburn, Washington.

   The Muckleshoot Casino teamed up with Everi Games Inc. to power hundreds of slot machines for 3,173 players, who walked away with more than $100,000 in cash and prizes in April 2016.

   The tournament's top finisher received $21,000 in cash and a four-night trip to Las Vegas to compete in the Everi TournEvent of Champions Championships.

   The slot machine world record broke the one set by Mohegan Sun Casino, made famous for baking the world's largest wedding cake (see above), in April 2013.

9. Most Slot Machines Running The Same Game Simultaneously

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   On the same day that Mohegan Sun Casino and Bally Technologies set the now-lost Largest Slot Machine Tournament record in 2013, they broke the record for most slot machines running the same game simultaneously.

   A crowd formed a line ringing the casino at around 6 am to register for the contest and one of 200 prizes, with 1,610 slot machines running the same game, Bally’s popular video slot Hot Shot. Mohegan Sun's three casinos house nearly 6,000 slot machines, so you can bet they'll be looking to regain the title they lost to Muckleshoot too.

10. Largest Functioning Blackjack Table

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    Viejas Casino in Southern California entered the world record books in September 2012 when it built the world's largest functioning blackjack table.

    Measuring 120 times the size of a regular blackjack table, this enormous table was 206.85 metres squared (2,226 square feet) in surface area, requiring the blackjack dealer to stand on it for the duration of the session.

    It was created to celebrate Viejas Casino's 21st birthday, one hand played by six special guests, using oversized casino chips and cards that matched the scale of the gigantic table.