Design Your Casino Room Before a Single Machine Arrives
Monte Cristo Gaming — September 29, 2026
Most owners picture video gaming as a row of machines against a wall. The best-performing rooms in Illinois look nothing like that. They feel like a destination, a little casino inside a place people already love.
The problem is that it's hard to picture your room that way until you see it. So we built Design Your Casino Room, a free visual designer that lets you style a gaming room and watch it change in real time.
Start with your kind of place
Pick the location type closest to yours:
Classic Chicago Tavern
Sports Bar
Tiki Bar
Sandwich Shop
Restaurant and VFW / fraternal club layouts are coming soon. Each design starts from a real tavern gaming room: a six-game wall with a redemption terminal, about 20 square feet per game.
Then make it yours
Wallpaper and murals. Keep the original wood paneling, or go bold with murals like the Las Vegas skyline, the Chicago skyline, an old-time gambling hall, or Monte Cristo 777. Or pick any custom color.
LED perimeter lighting. Choose a preset glow or any custom color.
LED neon sign. "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas," "WIN BIG," "The Casino Room," or no sign at all.
Carpet and flooring. Dozens of casino-style carpets and stone looks, laid wall-to-wall or just in the gaming area, or keep the original herringbone wood floor.
Amenity corners. Finish the end of the row with open space, a popcorn machine, a soda machine, a snack bar or greenery.
Privacy wall. A half wall that screens the gaming area, in stacked stone, ledger stone, fluted stone, wood slat or a mural facade, with an optional frosted glass top.
Why the room matters so much
Machines are close to a commodity. The room isn't. The same six terminals can earn nearly three times as much in a top-10% location as in a median one, and the difference is mostly how long people want to stay.
That's not new. Casinos have designed for it for decades, from the famously loud carpet (here's why it looks that way) to lighting, sound and layout. A consistent theme turns the gaming area into part of your brand instead of a corner people walk past. (More in How to Maintain a Consistent VGT Theme.)
Design within the rules
Illinois law requires video gaming terminals to be in an area restricted to adults 21 and over, with the entrance within view of at least one employee. A privacy wall can do a lot for the atmosphere, but it has to work with those sightlines. Any real build-out should be planned with your operator and checked against state and local requirements.
Save it, share it, talk it through
When you've built a room you like, save your design. It gives you something concrete to react to and a starting point for a real conversation about your space.
Design your room: montecristogaming.com/design-your-casino-room
Designs are illustrative. Final layouts depend on your space, local codes and Illinois Gaming Board requirements. 21+. Please play responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call or text 1-800-GAMBLER.
