Jackpot draws crowd to bingo showdown
- Chilkat Valley News
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
By Will Steinfeld
Chilkat Valley News
According to regulars, bingo around the valley has been mired in a bit of a downturn. In previous bingo heydays, an enthusiast could’ve gone to almost a game for each day of the week, or at least every other day of the week, said Larry Sweet, noted by fellow players as a bingo expert. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic at least, the number of weekly games in the Chilkat Valley has been whittled down to just the one at the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Alaska Native Sisterhood Hall.
At that one remaining game, it can be hard to get a quorum. The game can’t go until 10 players show up, something regulars attributed to state gaming laws. Some weeks, that means waiting around for that tenth to show, said another regular, Angie Howard.
Last Friday, that all went out the window. In a night of bingo fervor, roughly 40 players showed, packed in along three tables, each stretching nearly the length of the ANB/ANS Hall, plus a little square table stuck in the corner for overflow and latecomers.
Players staked out their spots long before the official start time, and up and down each table — and around the one little square table, too — one specific word flew around: “the bird.”
“All these new people are coming in for the bird,” Howard said, nodding down to the other end of the table at new faces. “Come after the early bird is gone and you’ll see what it’s usually like.”
Practically with each mention, the bird grew, both in reputation, like some kind of mythical El Dorado, but also quite literally: the bird in question was a roughly month-old bingo pot that entered the night at over $800. And as the pot continued to grow, competitors continued to buy more and more cards to increase their chances of winning the pot, which in turn grew the pot, which in turn sold more cards. By the time the playing started, the bird had flown past the $1,000 mark.
With the pot at quadruple digits, according to gaming regulations, it had to go before the end of the night. Bingo night became a bingo marathon. Fueled by Werther’s, Hershey’s kisses, and cherry Coke, competitors managed — for some — near-reams of bingo cards, shuffling through and marking each one for each number called.
During the games the room was often near-silent — except for the clatter of the bingo-ball randomizer, the calm voice of caller Rhonda Degtoff, and a chorus of groans each time a new number failed to bring a bingo.
But between games was plenty of chatter, especially once people started making back their money on smaller pots.
Having such a long night, bingo manager Deanna Strong said, was a welcome opportunity for community members to have more time to socialize.
Like Georgiana Hotch, for instance, who is no longer a weekly player, but returned with the growth of the bird. “I usually play once or twice a year, but my son wanted to play tonight, and I get to go out to play bingo,” Hotch said. “It’s nice to be back, it’s a nice camaraderie.”
Sitting across from Hotch was Jewel Stevens, a frequent winner, who was playing 15 early-bird cards. “Hopefully one of us regulars wins it, but I do hope that maybe some new people will keep coming back,” Stevens said.
Just before the four-hour mark, the CVN’s own Chuck Jones hit her last number: O48. Jones’ neighboring players had been mumbling that last number she needed, trying to “manifest” it into existence. When the number hit the screen, Jones sat quietly, observing the bingo etiquette she had been taught by her “bingo coach” Krystal Lloyd, until Degtoff officially called out the number. Then she celebrated.
Strong, as manager, was responsible for handing Jones the four-digit stack of cash. Despite the stakes, she said, the mood remained high. Even with only one big winner out of the entire crowd.
“Usually when it gets to be a higher pot people get so serious — which I get, you’re hoping to win,” Strong said. “I thought it was going to be really quiet, but nope. People were still laughing and having a good time.”
“(Rhonda) and I were talking after, we had so much fun just watching everyone because they looked so happy. That’s more payment to me than anything,”
The event also raised $400 for the Chamber of Commerce, which holds the charitable gaming permit for the weekly bingo game.
As for Jones, a second-time player at the ANB/ANS Hall, it was her first major bingo win since 2016, when she was living in the Caribbean on St. Thomas. There, her child was kicked out of his Catholic school one day after school administrators found out Jones and her wife were gay. Bingo was later that night, with a certain Sister Mary Margaret as the caller.
“Sister Mary Margaret, who had just kicked my kid out earlier that day, was the bingo caller,” Jones recounted this week. “I won, high-fived her, and walked out.”
A satisfying moment, Jones remembers. But still not as good as her recent win here. “This was a better win because it wasn’t surrounded by anything dark,” Jones said. “It was a solid win in a very happy environment.”
• This story originally appeared in the Chilkat Valley News.
