NHL Casino Night puts a different spin on the traditional idea of a casino. It’s a charity event dedicated to raising money for a variety of organizations, in amounts based on whatever the house manages to take home.
Let’s take a closer look at NHL Casino Night and how it all works.
The history of NHL Casino Night
NHL Casino Night wasn’t always run by the NHL. It began as a third-party event in 1998 and was started by the New York Rangers as a simple fundraising event. Considering the Rangers’ history of being such high earners, it shouldn’t be a surprise to die hard hockey fans that they were originally responsible for this event.
The first-ever Casino Night was hosted in Central Park and was such a success that the Rangers decided to do it again and again. It wasn’t until 2001 that the NHL itself took note of the popularity of Casino Night and decided to formally adopt it to help bring more awareness and money to good causes. It was then renamed to NHL Casino and Gaming Night.
The event continued annually and then was renamed in 2010 to NHL Casino Night, which is what everyone now knows it by.
The last major change to occur to NHL Casino Night happened in 2020 when COVID-19 struck. This forced the NHL to move Casino Night to the online world and host a virtual event instead of a live one. Luckily, NHL Casino Night 2020 was still a massive success, with millions of dollars being raised for various charity organizations.
Although the reason for it was, NHL casino night moving online wasn’t hugely out of the ordinary. These days, more and more people are opting for virtual gambling sites. Because of the swathes of new operators opening up, many people often look to comparison sites like time2play.com/ca-en/casinos/safe/, which prioritizes security and customer support, meaning those looking to gamble online have a more well rounded idea of what to look for in a safe casino online. That’s become the norm for online casinos nowadays, but NHL Casino Night hasn’t been without influence.. It has been around for 25 years and it could be one of the bigger influences on the current state of the casino world.
Games played at Casino Night
Because of NHL Casino Night’s humble beginnings in Central Park, only a few games such as poker or blackjack were initially available to play. Over the years, more games, such as craps, roulette and slot machines, were added.
Casino-style games aren’t the only things available, though. NHL Casino Night also has foosball tournaments, a silent auction of various NHL-related items, raffles and more. And in classic casino fashion, there’s also gourmet food, live music and entertainment, and red-carpet photos at VIP sections so that guests can meet and greet their favourite NHL stars, including players and coaches.
Though NHL Casino Night originated with the New York Rangers, different teams have taken up the mantle over the years to host the event and provide it with a unique theme each time. This makes NHL Casino Night a truly collaborative effort where people from various states are all working together to provide for various charities.
Charities supported by Casino Night
The NHL has been supporting various charities over the years through the help of Casino Night and other fundraising events. Most notable is their own organization, the NHL Foundation, which works to help raise money and awareness for several different causes, though it focuses mainly on cancer, environmental protection and helping build youth leagues for hockey playing.
NHL Casino Night has raised money for the following charities and organizations over the past 25 years:
● Hockey Fights Cancer
● The Special Olympics
● The Boys and Girls Club of America
● The Make-A-Wish Foundation
● The Ronald McDonald House Charity
● The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
NHL Casino Night makes an effort to focus on organizations that are related to their priorities in terms of giving and includes injuries and illnesses that disproportionately affect young children.
Because of all the hard work that this event has done over the past 25 years, many positive impacts have been felt across America. The money raised by NHL Casino Night has been used to build ice rinks in communities, donate millions of dollars donated to cancer research and help millions of children in various ways, such as granting a wish or helping them enter programs that teach them valuable skills or trades.
NHL Casino Night started as a unique and clever way to help raise some money, and now it is a major fundraising force. We can only hope that all sports organizations that aren’t heavily involved in other charity work will follow the NHL’s lead.
