Hood Today

Issue date: 12/8/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Nick Merrill A group of students enjoys a game of craps at the Messiah Ball.

The Messiah Ball, hosted by the Campus Activities Board (C.A.B.) and held immediately after the first performance of the Messiah, was a well-attended success. This ball was yet another opportunity to wear that tuxedo or that dress you HAD to buy instead of rent, and it was set apart from previous balls by the opportunity to gamble for prizes. The main draw of the Messiah Ball was that one half of Coblentz dining hall was transformed into a miniature casino, complete with blackjack, roulette and craps.
C.A.B. hired real blackjack dealers, some of whom would give advice to the students or flat out tell them what their next play should be. This made the atmosphere of the "casino" very welcoming and allowed skilled players to make absurd amounts of "money." Many players made over four times their initial chip count, myself included. As the night wore on, student volunteers, who were disappointing when compared to actual dealers, supplanted the real dealers. Overall, the tables were very kind to the gamblers that night.
The actual betting, thanks largely to the state of Maryland's strict gambling laws, was handled as follows: each attendee was given a voucher for "$25,000" in chips, which they traded for actual chips at one of the gaming tables. From there, gamblers would add to or lose their initial chips until 1 a.m. At that time, C.A.B. volunteers went around collecting chips in exchange for raffle tickets. Every "$10,000" in chips was the equivalent of one raffle ticket. After all of the chips were collected, the winning raffle numbers were called for a variety of prizes. These prizes ranged from a Sheetz gift card and an iPod speaker dock to assorted Hood clothing.
As usual, C.A.B. shut the dance down promptly at 2 a.m., leaving the revelers to stagger out into the

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