Thursday, Nov. 12, marked the return of the Student Government Association sponsored Casino Night. This was Ybor campus’s first Casino Night event in two years.

  Nearly 200 students attended the event which was held in the Ybor room; the amount of students that showed up was a remarkable turn out for a night event on campus according to several SGA members.

  An evening event, has been one of SGA most sought out attempt to connect with the HCC population that attends the campus in afternoon and evening hours.

  Large, stacked, red dice were in view just outside of the Ybor room to attract the attention of students passing by. A food tables offered corn-dogs, nachos, funnel cakes and Dippin’ Dots icecream to any student that had a Hawk verified student ID.

  In the lobby leading to the Ybor room, students were greeted by cheerful SGA members. Several casino theme props were distributed to students as they arrived; cardboard top hats were given out that contained green plastic martini glasses and beads.

  Once entering the Ybor room, casino tables were scattered throughout the room. Some of the games that were offered were blackjack, five card draw poker, and craps.

  Professional casino dealers were hired from Everything but the Mime, and were eager to train inexperienced students on how to play the games of chance.

  Prizes, as opposed to cash winnings and bets, were gift bags containing poker chip key chains, plastic beads with medallions, pens, a deck of playing cards and either red or green fuzzy dice for to hang from a vehicle.

  Due to the high number of students in attendance, there were several ecstatic winners at each table.

  SGA’s executive board made the decision to put on and host this event after a two year hiatus. Vendors, contracts, and food suppliers were carefully selected in preparation for this event to insure the best for the HCC community.

  “For the amount of people we serve [students], the food vendors are of high quality, and very affordable,” says Chiquita Johnson. “This is the second time in two weeks the food vendors have been on our campus,” she adds.

  In the light of such a great turnout, this gives the Ybor SGA hope for future evening events.

  The goal of this event was to allow the population of student who attend HCC in the afternoon to attend a fun SGA event that would normally be scheduled for mid-morning.

  Many new ideas are circling in the heads of the Executive Board, and the spring semester will be host to many more exciting and new events..