Abbot Casino
Flashing cameras and clinking of poker chips in red plastic cups marked Abbot Hall’s annual casino event last Saturday in Grainger Auditorium. Elegantly-dressed Exonians arrived at Abbot Casino, which started at 8:00 PM, for a long-anticipated night of “gambling” and taking stylish photographs.
Each year, the uppers of Abbot Hall plan the school-wide event, and Abbot residents manage games of Blackjack, Texas Hold’em and Roulette at green fabric tables distributed throughout the auditorium. According to lower and Abbot resident Tobias Abelmann, the boys in his dorm worked for three hours to set up the event. “After we got dressed, we went to Grainger to learn how to deal,” he said. “It’s a lot of work to host, but it’s still a lot of fun.”
Although some may think it strange that high schoolers host a mock casino event, the occasion has become an established Exeter tradition. Senior and Abbot proctor Kevin Elaba explained that the Abbot uppers found inspiration for the event from the movie “The Godfather.” “They were going for an Italian mafia type of thing,” he said.
“The event itself provides Exonians an outlet to take a moment, just two hours, out of their busy lives and put everything on hold, and have fun.”
Lower and Abbot resident Aaron Willard enjoyed dealing cards and dispensing poker chips among players. “I hope everybody that came had the chance to have a good time. I had fun being a dealer and seeing everyone come to my table to play,” Willard said, commenting on the “energetic” and “happy” atmosphere of the night. “People seemed like they were enjoying themselves,” he said. Willard felt as though the casino night helped to bring Abbot Hall closer together. “All in all, I felt like it was a fun bonding experience for the dorm to put together such a large event,” Willard explained.
Abbot residents invited all students to the casino by sending out green invitations shaped like dollar bills with the face of an Abbot senior replacing George Washington’s. Lower Ariane Avandi commented on her excitement upon receiving the invitation in her post office box a few days prior to the event. “I didn’t go to Abbot Casino last year, so I was curious to see what all the hype was about,” she remarked. “I think the event was well-organized and the dealers were really friendly.”
Appointed student photographers milled about the room, taking professional pictures of casino-goers in their formal attire. After the event, many attendees shared the commemorative photos on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
According to lower Anna Clark, the photoshoot opportunity that Abbot Casino’s classy atmosphere presented was just as enticing as the card games. “It was a bunch of people looking swanky and playing poker,” she said. “I’m admittedly not good at poker, and I lost my chips very quickly, but I loved getting all dressed up and feeling like a million bucks.”
However, some students felt that the auditorium was not the ideal place for taking photos. Upper Layne Erickson found that the lighting in the room was not optimal. She remarked that the room was stuffy and overcrowded, and she expressed a desire to see other activities at the casino, as she found that some people didn’t seem to enjoy or know how to gamble.
Another student expressed his dissatisfaction with the event, as he was barred from entering because his outfit was not deemed formal enough. Senior Yannick Yao, dressed in a blue jacket, a purple T-shirt, jeans and sneakers, was told by faculty and students that he could not participate in the casino unless he changed his attire. Yao took to protesting this by facing a wall outside the auditorium for the remainder of the event. According to Yao, “Enforcing formal dress codes in social events is fundamentally discrimination based on clothing.” He explained that he sees Abbot Casino as a venue to have fun and bond with peers and that it shouldn’t be as serious as a business meeting or a college interview. “Requiring formal attire at an event that is informal in nature is self-contradictory,” Yao said. He also commented on the fact that “formal attire” can be discriminatory to other cultures, as the standards for those words are generally Eurocentric.
Senior Isabel Bagger echoed Yao’s statements and explained why she has continually chosen to abstain from attending Abbot Casino in years past. “I would love to go to these formal events, but I’d rather stay home than wear something I’m not comfortable with,” Bagger said. She elaborated, voicing concerns about the formal attire policy that Abbot Casino enforces. “From my perspective, the only thing having a strict dress code accomplishes is making sure that people who can’t afford formal clothes, people who might be gender nonconforming and have a harder time finding formal clothes that suit them, and people more self-conscious about their appearance don’t attend the event,” Bagger said.
Despite some dissatisfaction, Abbot Casino was seen as a triumph in the eyes of most. “I think it’s a great event,” said Abelmann. Elaba expressed his pride in the enduring success of his dorm’s beloved tradition. “The event itself provides Exonians an outlet to take a moment, just two hours, out of their busy lives and put everything on hold, and have fun,” he said. “This year, Abbot Casino accomplished that, and I hope that in the coming years the tradition will holds up.”