Francesco Marino, a freshman undeclared major, picks up the cards thrown down on the table in front of him and looks at them meticulously as he clutches them in his hand. His next move could make or break his winnings for the night.
"I have lost about a thousand dollars at one point but I've also won about three times that," said Marino. "I enjoy the possibilities of winning, and I'm very good at it."
Marino has won many games, often against friends in basement or garage poker games. Although he frequently loses, he enjoys the risk.
"Everyone loses more than they win, but the payoff could be ten or even a 100 times what you put in," said Marino.
With the advent of the Internet, the ubiquity of lotteries and scratch-offs and the popularity of poker on cable television, gambling is at its zenith.
One student who has transformed gambling from a hobby into a profession is Joshua Belleville, a junior accounting major. Belleville has played Internet poker for the past two years on www.partypoker.com. He entered a game one day for $50 and has played off that initial investment ever since. Belleville has made $15,000 to date.
"I bought my car, my television, my bike, and I pay my rent all from my winnings," said Belleville. "Poker is the only game where you can win long-term. All the others like blackjack, roulette and craps you're going to lose long-term."
At any given time there are close to 20,000 people playing on www.partypoker.com, so getting a game is effortless, Belleville said. With such a large assemblage of players, Belleville is able to play two or three games at once, increasing the speed at which he can earn.
"I keep stats on how well I do," Belleville said. "Over the last 542 hours of playing I've averaged almost $23 an hour."
Considering those statistics, Belleville would make $47,840 a year before taxes if he played full-time. According to Belleville though, since online poker sites are almost all based offshore in the Caribbean islands, the U.S has not figured out how to collect income tax on winnings yet.
But with all of his success, there have been down times where Belleville has hit vicious streaks of cold cards and bad luck.
"I've had a lot of losing streaks. I've had them were I've lost $5,000 in one week," Belleville said. "It's a skill-based game but there is luck involved. Over the course of one session it's luck. But over the course of a year it's almost all skill."
Professionals aside, most students who gamble are not in it for a career but only a good time and a bit of weekend entertainment.
"For me I go to the casino with the mindset that I'm going to lose. If I win money it's just a bonus. I'm happy just to break even," said Michael Hurley, a senior business and computer science major. "If you go there expecting to win, then it takes all the fun out of it. The casino is just a fun place to be."
Hurley has gone beyond Buffalo's backyard casinos, trying his luck in Las Vegas. Despite losing about $250, Hurley was happy to bask in the exciting atmosphere.
"It's just an exciting thing to do. There's always that small chance you can win big," said Hurley.
But Dr. Renee Wert, director of the Gambling Recovery Program for the Jewish Family Service of Buffalo and Erie County, warns that students should be gambling in a healthy way, playing with a set amount of time and money in the casino.
"Culture is saying that it's important for people to make money and make it fast," said Wert. "If you're looking to make a lot of money, it's probably not going to work out."
According to John Welte, a senior research scientist at the Research Institute on Addictions in Buffalo, 80 percent of Americans gamble. Most of that percentage gambles by playing the lottery.
But of that 80 percent, 2 percent have a severe gambling addiction, causing bankruptcy and family troubles.
"It's like asking if alcohol is a bad thing. A lot of people use it and don't get into trouble, but a lot of people that use it actually do," said Welte. "If you gamble with professionals they'll end up with your money."
