Students try card games at Casino Night

CSU-Pueblo’s Office of Student Activities (OSA), held their Casino Night on Sept. 27. The event offered students the chance to try their hand at games such as blackjack, poker and roulette.

The theme of the event was “A Night on the Strip.”

Over 300 students turned out to participate in the twice-annual event. Casino Night is one of OSA’s most popular, said Director of Student Activities Matt Green.

“Other than the spring concert Casino Night gets the best student turnout,” Green said

Featured at the event were mock-tails, non-alcoholic versions of beverages such as daiquiris and pina coladas.

Buffalo Wild Wings was a sponsor of the event and buckets of wings, soft drinks and desserts were available for students to enjoy.  

An Elvis impersonator strolled from table to table, serenading players with classics and offering blackjack tips.

While some of the dealers were employees of the company that rented out the casino equipment, there were also student and staff dealers. Football Coach John Wristen dealt blackjack at one table.

Casino Night saw a few changes this year, as both the prizes and the ticket values were changed.

“In the past, the focus of this event has always been on the prizes, something that we wanted to change.” said Green. “Rather than putting a lot of money into a couple big prizes, we focused on the event itself.”

Green also said that OSA would like to see more people receiving prizes, rather than only a few people going home with big prizes. While one larger item, a flat-screen TV, was up for grabs, there were also about 10 other smaller things available to win.

Students received a certain number of chips to play with, which, at the end of the night, were traded for tickets. These tickets were placed into envelopes that gave clues as to what prize the winner would receive.

At the end of the night, one ticket was chosen from each envelope and the lucky winner with the matching ticket received the prize.

Senior math major and prize winner John Lopez has attended the event before, and said he always has a good time. “Casino Night is better than a night out on the Vegas strip!”

Undeclared freshman Boomer Rogers also said he enjoyed Casino Night. “I got to do a lot of things that I haven’t tried before. Maybe next time I won’t lose all my money in one bet!”

While Casino Night was a big event for OSA this semester, Green said that OSA is already gearing up for Homecoming Week. Homecoming will run from Mon., Oct. 8, to Sat., Oct. 13. OSA will be offering many different events during the week of festivities.

OSA’s event schedule will culminate in a western themed “Family Day” on Oct. 13. The event will offer hayrides, a petting zoo, live music and face painting. Green said that while this event is geared towards non-traditional students, offering them a chance to bring their families to campus, the event is also open to the community and any other students who would like to attend.

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