Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Sankovic.
Hi Mark, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I used to work in the casino industry (started in 2013). I got in at a locals casino that was a nice easy house to work in and the tips were decent. After the pandemic they switched the management and the two casino’s down the road closed so we got their clientele and management. Their clientele were very undesirable and ended up chasing away our good clientele and the management had no clue what they were doing. Shift managers couldn’t even properly deal some games it got really bad. Tips sunk. In part of that was our new department manager only cared about the money the casino was making and not the money the dealers made. Dealers make a couple dollars over minimum wage and rely heavily on tips and it was clear that he didn’t care. He opened every table in the place that he could and even if they stood empty for hours he refused to close them. Dealers split their tips and so if you have people standing around doing nothing then obviously tips are going to start going down. That on top of him only wanting to hire people because they were attractive and openly talking about it, letting players cheat at games and treat dealers horribly, and just the over all atmosphere at the casino turning toxic, was the reason that I went to break one day and just clocked out and went home. I had enough. I bought a 9 hole miniature golf course online and decided I was going to go into the rental business. It’s been a lot of trial and error and hardship but I have been keeping it afloat for almost 4 years now. The first year we expanded with inflatable games and bounce houses. Then last year my insurance decided that they didn’t want to cover bouncers anymore. I had to look for an insurance company that would take them. All either declined or wanted more money than I was making. They told me bouncers should bring in $1,600 a month each and even though I told them I didn’t have a huge budget and that I grew the business organically I was gaining momentum but didn’t have the budget to cover what they were asking a month. That on top of laws for bouncers changing in 2026 I ended up having to get rid of my bouncer selection and move in a different direction. Currently we still do have the original 9 hole golf course to rent but we’ve also expanded into carnival games for events. We run a prize every time motto no matter what game because there’s a stigma that carnival games are rigged and we want to show that not every one is and that we are really in it to see people have fun.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not a smooth road at all. I started everything myself. I had to pretty much figure out what I needed to do by myself. I got my license through Legal Zoom because I figured that if I had any questions they advertise that I could just ask them and they could tell me. However that is not the case. Any question I asked they told me I would need to contact a lawyer or that they couldn’t give me any advice. I wanted to know how to take care of the sales tax. They couldn’t even answer that. So I dropped them and learned how to renew my license myself. I just ended up googling anything that I had a question for and researching how to keep in compliance. Had to switch over where my website was because the original platform I used didn’t have a way for me to rent out stuff without it reflecting in my inventory. It was a mess. I ended up finding a different platform that designed my website and was made for renting out bouncers. I no longer have bouncers because I couldn’t find an insurance company to insure them without a ton of money that I didn’t have. I had to get rid of them anyways because state laws changed and we try to keep this business as legitimate as possible. Safety has always been our first priority so if we couldn’t run them safe and in compliance then we were just going to have to lose the money from them and go in a different direction. I still don’t make enough to solely live off of just the business so my boyfriend works full time to keep everything going and the bills paid. There are months I don’t get any rentals and haven’t done events. They are tough and every now and then I think about just selling everything and going back to a job I didn’t care for but business is tricky like that. There’s slow times then there are busy times. I’ve just been focusing on doing events at the moment. I do the smaller events because I can’t afford a $1000 spot at an event that is only one day. We keep our prices low and I know I can’t make that back in 10 or less hours. Finding events to do is a struggle. Not everybody wants carnival games and I don’t like to lug the golf course for an event that is only a couple hours (each lane is solid wood and weighs 50 to 60 pounds). I don’t have a van to transport the course around so I’ve had to get creative. I used to rent Uhaul but their prices have gone pretty extreme and there were times it was costing me over $100 plus gas just to do an event in town. I had to figure out how to get the course around without renting. Luckily I’ve found I can fit the bare minimums for the course for rentals in my brothers car. If my dad is free I ask him if he can help me. He has a truck that fits the course but he’s not always free. I’ve found out I can fit a couple lanes in my car. I make the carnival games so I’ve learned to make them so I could fold them up. It’s definitely been a learning curve on how to build stuff (I took 2 years of wood shop in high school but I can’t afford the nice table saw or anything so I’ve been building stuff with a skill saw and electric drill). The projects are finally looking a lot better than they used to so I’m slowly getting better. It drives my boyfriend crazy when I have to figure out how to build games. I don’t know how to use design software but I know what I want so I just wing it. The last game I built was a self contained can knock over game and honestly I love how it turned out and it was very popular at the last event so I think I’m getting better and I still have all 10 fingers so I think I’m doing stuff right.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We rent out a 9 hole miniature golf course complete with putters, golf balls, pencils, and score cards. We also rent out a few carnival games. We also try to do community events like farmers markets as well as being regular vendors at the NGRA (Nevada Gay Rodeo Association). We try to give back to the community where we can. We have sponsored a Little League team the past few years as well as this year we sponsored a buckle for Community Leadership at the NGRA. We aren’t in it to get rich quick like most entertainment businesses. I know not everybody is made of money and not every family has a lot of it. We keep our game prices reasonable (our games start at $5 and at most are $10 for more rings/balls in the throwing games) and each buy in depending on how much you automatically get a prize if you don’t win. We would rather see somebody walk away happy than them walk away with their money in my pocket. When kids play games that require dexterity I know the games are hard and already not made to win so if they make a bad throw we give them their ball back and let them try again. They’re kids they aren’t going to be the best at it right away. Even for adults we give them extra tries. We try to accommodate for the win. Nothing is a better feeling than watching somebody who doesn’t think they can win something actually be able to do it because we gave them a couple extra shots. Our prizes aren’t extravagant like at the bigger carnivals. Our medium prizes are socks along with a stuffed animal if they don’t want the socks. Large prizes we offer a stuffed snake or hats. We also bring along a claw machine and bobble machine so there’s options. I think what sets us apart from the others is that we offer something a little different than just the normal bouncers for kids parties. There’s a million places in Las Vegas that you can rent a bouncer from, but not many you can rent a full sized golf course. We pride ourselves on being upfront and honest with our prices. I have seen a lot of places either make you message them for a price or tack on a ton of hidden fees.
Nobody wants to jump through hoops to get something. Life is complicated enough as it is. We pride ourselves on being upfront and honest on our pricing. If you go to our website, the price you see is the price you pay (plus tax). We don’t have hidden fees, we don’t charge delivery fees, and we never charge set up fees. The website says the golf course is $350 for up to 6 hours and that’s exactly what you’re going to pay. Our carnival games are labeled the prices with signs that tell you if you spend $5 you’re going to get 10 ping pong balls or if you spend $10 you’re going to get 25. If the ball bounces off the board or doesn’t go into a hole we give you the ball back. Nothing hidden we’re not trying to get $75 dollars out of you so you can maybe walk away with a $10 plush. We want you to have a good time and walk away with something.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We would love to find steady event work. I usually rely on Facebook to find events and not all of them want us. If there was just an event company that would want us at all their events we would be more than happy to get on with them. We have also been trying to tag our posts so that event planners and corporations find us. We grow organically so if people shared our Facebook/Instagram posts just to get the word out that we are around would help a lot. We are slowly gaining traction so I’m really just looking for ways to get exposure because people do like what we do I just don’t think there’s a lot of people that know we’re here.
Pricing:
- $350 for 6 hours for the 9 hole miniature golf course
- $50 for carnival games or bundle them 3 for $125
- $175 for 3 lanes of miniature golf
- $250 for 6 lanes of miniature golf
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jkminigolf.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jkminigolf/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jkminigolflv
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/j-and-k-amusements-las-vegas
