The second annual Prime Time Charity Casino Classic will return to Santa Monica on Thursday, Jan. 9, and local residents are invited to come party with professional ballplayers while they enjoy an evening of cards and casino games all in the name of fundraising.
Hosted by Major League Baseball players, Tyler and Scott Heineman, this year’s casino classic will feature a number of other major league players with local ties to the area, including Ryan Braun, Christian Yelich, Mike Moustakas, Lucas Giolito, Jack Flaherty, Trevor Plouffe and Max Fried.
Occurring at the historic Santa monica Bay Woman’s Club in Santa Monica from 6-11 p.m., the event will include a poker tournament, casino games, card magicians, light bites and an open bar featuring craft spirits from J. Riley Distillery and craft beer from Santa Monica Brew Works, event organizers said. Poker tournament and general admission tickets are available for purchase now online at one.bidpal.net/primetimecasinoclassic, and general admission tickets may be available at the door depending on availability.
Proceeds from the event will benefit Team Prime Time, a 501(c)(3) organization that has the mission to provide academic, athletic and arts programs for at-risk children from low-income areas of Los Angeles. The organization operates in 40 local schools and serves nearly 4,000 students each year.
“We are really excited about hosting the event for a second year,” Tyler Heineman said Friday. “Last year’s event was a huge success and it’s been our goal to make it bigger and better every year.”
In January 2019, the Heineman brothers hosted the inaugural Prime Time Casino Classic where they raised more than $50,000 for Team Prime Time and helped expand the Prime Time Games to 14 new schools.
This year, the brothers are aiming to donate even more as Scott said this year’s event will help Team Prime Time implement the Prime Time Games in as many as 40 new schools across the country in 2020.
“Team Prime Time exemplifies everything we wanted to support in a non-profit organization (and) we believe that we had every opportunity to succeed because of our parents and the mentors we surrounded ourselves with,” Heineman said, describing how his parents taught him and his brother the importance of philanthropy.
“We understand that a lot of kids don’t have those luxuries growing up,” Heineman added, which is why he and his brother want to help more people feel the same way they do. “That you can achieve your dreams if you work hard and surround yourself with like-minded individuals.”
More information on the upcoming Prime Time Charity Casino Classic can be found online at https://teamprimetime.org/.
brennon@smdp.com
