The Cave in the Culp Center lit up like Vegas Friday night, transforming the usually quiet caf into a gambler’s paradise and the Student Government Association president into a roulette dealer.
“This is fun, but I’ve never gambled in my life,” said JR Husmillo, SGA president-turned-croupier, during ETSU’s gambling night, sponsored by the Homecoming Committee.
“It’s high stakes, high rewards – just like life.”
About 80 East Tennessee State University students also morphed into something else — high rollers.
They visited craps and blackjack tables and played slot machines as island music blared from a disc jockey’s booth. The only things missing, besides heavy smoke and cocktail waitresses, were real money and real loss.
Students were given $7,000 in fake money and a raffle ticket to win prizes like iPods, compact disc players or alarm clocks, said Justin Lacey, casino manager for Saturday Night Coin, a company out of Morehead, Ky., that was hired to set up the casino night at the school. For $5,000 more, students could up the real ante and buy an additional raffle ticket.
The event was originally supposed to take place in the Mini-Dome alongside an exhibition basketball game but was nixed when head coach Murry Bartow balked at players using up what would have been practice time under NCAA regulations. So instead, “Buccapalooza” in the Mini-Dome became “Casino Night” in the Cave.
“I don’t know how many people know about it,” said Angela Bryant, a member of the Homecoming Committee, who was manning a blackjack table for the event.
“I just wish we’d had more publicity.”
Most students, however, seemed unaware of the loss. For them, the real thrill seemed to be in the experience itself.
Sophomore Rhys Kern, a pre-law major, was an early customer of the event. Hanging out at the blackjack tables, he put his skills at probability and statistics to work.
“I like blackjack because it’s easy and the odds are good,” said Kern, who had watched his father do some real gambling while in Las Vegas.
“See, in casino games, the odds usually favor the house, but not as much in blackjack,” Kern said.
Others weren’t so sure gambling was for them, however. After losing money at the slots, freshman Lindsey Bridwell continued her losing streak early on by betting hundreds of “dollars” playing a wheel-of-chance game called “A Night at the Races.”
“I can see why this becomes addictive,” Bridwell said.
Still, it was something to do, and Bridwell and her friends were grateful for the activity on a campus known for its quiet weekends.
“At least everybody’s not going home,” said Beth Adkins, a freshman. “There’s actually stuff to do [on campus] for a change.”

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