A Danger to Our Democracy: Data Driven’s Casino Night Marred by Alleged Cheating Scandal

Jared Steinberg | Mass Media Student Writer

Jim Kertis displaying his “Bag o’ Patriotism” swag. | Photo courtesy of Tim Mountain.

BREAKING: In spite of what appeared to be a fun, clean ASP event for all, Data Driven’s annual “Casino Night” proved to be rife with shady backroom dealings and alleged cheating.

Data Driven Master Teacher Bowman Dickson described the event as a place where “You play fair; you play tough.”

Unfortunately, this year, that was not the case.

While many individuals played a role in the scandal, one Forbidden Fictions student, who Dickson detailed as Jim Kertis, is at the forefront of the allegations. Kertis is the recently-announced first-place winner of the Casino Night.

Kertis is currently under fire for allegedly pooling Starbursts (which were used in place of chips or money) with his fellow Forbidden Fictions students in order to maximize his final point count.

The three students with the highest final Starburst points received prizes, with the first place student receiving a “Bag o’ Patriotism.”

Kertis stated that when he first entered the event, “There was no sign up that said we couldn’t pool [our Starbursts].”

Contradictory to Kertis’s point, an anonymous source commented that “Bowman told alleged cheaters to explicitly not share Starbursts.”

Witness Lucas Guerrette brought the allegation to Mass Media, explaining that he “Saw the first place winner last night holding, like, four cups and they were filled with Starburst, so I thought that was a little fishy at first. But I didn’t really think anything of it until I saw him…wearing all the patriotic swag, which I’m assuming was the first place prize. So I got a little suspicious.”

Kertis confirmed this and explained that “Pretty much the whole [Forbidden Fictions] class” gave him the contents of their cups.

Forbidden Fictions Master Teacher Chris Canfield declined to comment on the potential of a premeditated plot by his class to exploit Casino Night. In response, he only stated, “I am so proud of them for their teamwork.”

According to Dickson, Kertis apologized for the incident. “He did come clean and try to make it right, so we didn’t kick him out of the casino.”

At some point in the evening, Kertis returned a portion of his Starbursts after being confronted. At that point, there was no way to know how many of his Starbursts were from his original pile, and which were pooled. He continued playing following the confrontation.

While Dickson did not kick out Kertis during the actual event, he expressed that “He is not welcome to ever come back.”

Although the Data Driven class allowed Kertis to keep the prize, fellow competitor, Richard Durkee, had other thoughts.

“I think it’s [an] injustice. I think it goes against the principles of what the Casino Night is supposed to be: equal opportunity for all involved. If the winning strategy is to cheat – to combine cups – I don’t think that’s right,” Durkee stated.