Gambling for Charity at Rotary Club's Casino Night

It looks like the Hoboken Rotary has a new spring fundraiser to plan every year. The club held its first ever Charity Casino Night on Saturday along with co-host hMAG. More than 200 people came to eat, drink and gamble in the gym at the fitness center.

In previous years, the Rotary staged an art auction in the spring, but according to club president Christopher Mackin, the club has been looking to to try something new.

“We've been talking about putting this together for a few years now,” said Mackin. “We think it's a way to spice things up, and we hope to have this event going forward as many times as we can.”

Mackin said the casino night would fund the Rotary's scholarship awards this year. . Mackin said the club is currently accepting applications for the scholarships and encouraged students from all three of Hoboken's high schools to apply. Interested students can begin the process by visiting the scholarship tab on Rotary's website.

The guests of the casino night ate food donated by local restaurants , Balbo's Pizzeria, , and the . For desert, they ate cake donated by . The lent two of its famously dressed bartenders to serve drinks.

After the table games ended, the guests were able to put their tickets into raffle buckets for over 40 prizes from local businesses including , Hoboken Chiropractic, , and Marie Papp Photography.

More than 30 guests competed in a special Texas hold 'em poker tournament. When the game ended at 9 p.m., Duane Karabin stood in first place with more than $20,000 in chips, followed by second place winner Ed Haft and third place winner Rory Chadwick, owner of clothing boutique .

For winning the tournament, Karabin took home a free two-night trip to the Caribbean nation of Curacao that was donated by .

Karabin said he has visited the Caribbean before, but never Curacao. “It's going to be a nice trip,” he said.