Monte Carlo Night Is a Lucky Roll of the Dice

A Monte Carlo casino night paid off for the Special Olympics on Friday when students of UC Irvine’s Graduate School of Management gambled on a Vegas-style fund-raiser.

About 200 people, UCI alumni among them, turned up at the Sports Club in Irvine to gamble for prizes while raising money for the graduate school’s Challenge for Charity drive. Proceeds from the $20-per-person event were expected to exceed $2,500.

High Rollers

“This is gambling without the guilt,” said Jo-Ellen Boon, director of UCI’s Challenge for Charity drive.

The Sports Club was transformed into a casino complete with chips, gambling tables and red, black and white balloons. Students served as volunteer dealers, spending hours in training to learn the tricks of the trade.

“There’s a lot of etiquette involved,” said Myra Phelan, an MBA candidate and dealer. “There’s a way to pick up the cards, to pay out a hand, and a lot of other details.”

Guests wandered from table to table gambling and snacking on pasta, cheese quesadillas, chicken wings and mini-burgers.

The rowdiest group gathered around the craps table, hollering when the dice landed in their favor. Anthony Bradley stood with a growing stack of chips, using his business acumen to multiply his winnings.

“I’m not reaching the millions, but I’m staying afloat,” he said modestly.

Game of Chance

For the business school, staging a casino night was a gamble. The school held a similar event five years ago and went bust.

“This time we just really put a huge amount of time into it,” said Peter Kurlander, co-chairman of the event with Daniel Ham.

“I had no idea it would be this big. Originally we were going to do it on campus, but it got so large we had to find a larger place.”

Challenge for Charity is a fund-raising network of six business schools that compete to see who will raise the most money for Special Olympics.

“We intend to win,” said Ham, showing off his school spirit.

Other party-goers were Dennis Aigner, dean of the business school, Andrew Chiu, Lisa Gilbert, Kristen Marsh, Patty Monte, Monique Moore, Tanya Novak and Susan Petr.