Story By: Rachael Bergeron
Photos By: Shannon Burke

Community, networking and building relationships among students, faculty and staff was what Missouri Western’s annual Casino Night was all about.

Casino Night, which has been going on since 2011, was started when Residence Life was looking to find something for students to do, according to Kathy Kelly.

Kelly, who is the contacts coordinator of Residential Life, has been in charge of planning the event for the past three years.

“Our goal is to keep [the students] engaged outside of the classroom,” Kelly said. “We want to keep it as inviting and socialized as possible, because we want our students to enjoy themselves. It’s our opportunity to give our appreciation back to them and say: ‘Here, let us do something for you; let us give you the opportunity to just have a good time for two hours and then possibly win a great prize.’”

However, there was also an educational component to the evening.

“It’s our way of trying to make sure they’re gambling safely; they’re learning some safe money skills out of it,” said Jamie Exline, who is the residence hall director for Scanlon Hall.

Pamphlets containing resources were available to students with a gambling problem.

The positive environment encouraged previous participants to return.

“My favorite part to the night was when my friends and I played bingo,” said Jasmine Ali, a senior who was attending for the third time. “We had so many boards that we couldn’t even catch up.”

The entire event was free to Missouri Western students. Each student received a ticket for a door prize drawing; a $500 gift certificate for Barnes and Noble, and $1000 in the form of paper money called, “Griff bucks.” Students had a variety of games they could participate in: poker, blackjack, roulette, slots, bingo and trivia. University faculty and staff helped out as dealers.

Casino night provided an opportunity for students to get to know their instructors, university staff, residence assistants and other students with different backgrounds.

“Here we’re all peers,” Kelly said.

At the end of the night winnings were cashed in for tickets to enter drawings for prizes, $1,000 equaled one ticket.

Students chose between 18 different prizes to take a chance at winning. Prizes included flat screen televisions, an iPad, laptop computers, Missouri Western memorabilia, a house cleaning pack that included a vacuum cleaner and a date night pack; which included gift cards for dinner, a movie and chocolate from Rocky Mountain Chocolate.

There were other opportunities to win prizes during the night.

Wearing vintage attire, Chloe Oyler won the award for best dressed. Oyler, a freshman in graphic design, said she chose the vintage style “because everyone loves the 50’s.” “

Who doesn’t just want to have victory curls and a swing dress every day,” Oyler said.

This is Oyler’s first time attending this event. “I had a great time, and will come back next year with a better outfit. I recommend it to everyone.”