Students had the chance to win some exciting prizes at this semester’s Casino Week.

The event, hosted every semester by Student Government, was a week long faux gambling themed week.

The events included Texas Hold-Em on Tuesday, bingo on Wednesday, and finally ending with the much-attended Casino Night on Friday.

Casino Night took place in the Ballroom of the Student Union Building.

No actual money is gambled by the students, instead chips and tickets are utilized.

Hunter Hughes, student government president, spoke about the process of planning the event.

“The planning process begins in June,” he explained. “Once we get back from the winter break, we start getting together the prizes and make sure all of the little details are together.”

The event had a healthy influx of students coming in and out of each event, with Casino Night having the highest attendance.

“It gets a lot of students out and gets them together in a healthy way,” said Hughes. “Everyone pays student activity fees, and this is way of getting something real out of it.”

Student activity fees come out of tuition. Last semester’s budget for Casino Week was $12,385, with around $9,000 spent on prizes.

Prizes this year included things such as Wilkes flags, a television, purses, a chromebook, makeup and a kayak.

After playing the many casino style games at the events, students can trade in their chips for tickets which they can use to try to win the prizes.

Not much has changed from previous years’ events, according to Alanah Guerrero, student government member.

“We try to get a little creative,” she said. “This year we included projects from the IEM class to support fellow students.”

“We know what works. Students really like it, and they always give their opinions.”

This year was also a departure from the free t-shirts given out at last semester’s event.

“Last semester was the first time we ever [gave out t-shirts.] We’d rather more students benefit from the prizes versus the t-shirt because we give them out so often.”

According to Guerrero, the event encourages students to come together.

“It’s Friday night, so rather than you going out into the community, you can keep the community here,” she said. “I think it’s important to play with your fellow peers. Not everyone is 21, so it’s a fun experience to bring to Wilkes.”

This year’s Casino Week falls in the same week as the annual Winter Weekend. The event is often marked by drinking and partying on off-campus houses.

The event was not consciously chosen by Student Government to fall the same week as Winter Weekend.

“The way Student Government works, we plan our events a semester ahead. At the end of this semester, next semester will be already planned out. Technically, their event was moved to the same weekend as this event.”

The events also notably fell on the same weekend as St. Patrick’s Day, another holiday that is typically heavily celebrated with drinking.

“You can walk away with just a new experience, or a new prize which you wouldn’t be to afford yourself,” said Guerrero.