Gambling on Romance

Ticket holders to Valentine’s Date Night, a singles mixer tonight aboard the Queen Mary, get the chance to vie for a “romantic” trip for two to Las Vegas, which begs the question: Since the night’s idea is to meet someone brand new, does the trip winner sleep with a stranger on the Strip?

Perhaps. Party organizers surely won’t be playing chaperon, said Harry M. Saltzgaver, executive editor of the Grunion Gazette, a free Long Beach community newspaper that’s sponsoring the party.

“It’s an opportunity drawing,” Saltzgaver said. “You get five chances for $20, and if you win, it’s your trip for two. You may take whomever you’d like.”

Still, the prize may be redeemed as late as a year from now, Saltzgaver said, so there is a chance for love to develop slowly, as it did for Raphael and Caroline Hill. They met at Date Night four years ago and married last March.

“We didn’t have our first date for weeks,” Caroline Hill said.

Tickets for the 7 p.m. party, a fund-raiser for local hospitals, may be purchased at the door for $35. Dwight Kennedy and the Midnight Hour will play Top 40 tunes for dancing.

More information: (562) 433-2000.