Seven Eleven, or “rolling dice for money,” has become increasingly popular amongst the Leesville male population and has taken over as a way to win money from friends.
The goal of the game is to roll a sum of seven or eleven. Seemingly simple, the game is highly addictive because of its unpredictability.
To start the game, the players throw the same amount of money into a betting pool. Each player has one die; both players roll the dice at the same time and whoever rolls the higher number goes first. The player that rolled the higher number then takes both dice and rolls; if the player rolls doubles, the player rolls again; if each die rolls a one (snake eyes) then that player loses.
Whichever player rolls the seven or eleven first earns possession of whatever money was originally placed into the pool. This amount can be anywhere from a couple dollars to a couple hundred.
“My friends taught me to play at school, and it’s just a fun way to earn money. Yeah, you lose occasionally, but that’s just all the more reason to keep playing and win your money back,” said an anonymous dice-rolling junior.
Because the game involves betting money on something with an uncontrollable outcome, it is considered gambling, which is illegal in the state of North Carolina.
“I’ve been hearing about this game recently,” said Officer Faust, Student Resource Officer at LRHS. “To me it’s just like placing money on the NCAA tournament; they’re going to do it. It’s just one of those issues that won’t be addressed until it starts affecting other students.”
However, that may be soon because students have recently been playing the game in class.
“It’s a great game,” said another junior gambler. “It’s a fun thing to do at parties, sometimes we’ll have parties where you’ll see twenty or thirty games going on at once. My teacher took my dice away the other day because I had them out during class, but she gave them back after school. It was no big deal.”
Dice could soon be joining cell phones and iPods on the list of “Nuisance Items” that are banned inside school walls. Be careful with where you play the game or take the safest choice–don’t play at all.
Katy has been on staff since her sophomore year, starting as a staff writer. With hard work and diligence, she earned a junior editor position and ultimately became Editor-in-Chief her senior year. She will pursue a degree in journalism in college.