The T. Byrd Center, located in Pleasantville near Atlantic City in the US state of New Jersey, has just opened a new program called Casino Games Division.
The latter will train future croupiers to run games on tables dedicated to traditional games.
This is great news for the local casino industry, which is currently experiencing great difficulty in recruiting.
A curriculum that provides everything employers and gamblers want in a dealer
The T. Byrd Center’s instruction is primarily hands-on. It provides aspiring dealers with everything that employers and gamblers look for in a skilled professional.
In a simulated casino environment, students can improve their speed and agility in handling equipment such as chips, cards, or the ivory ball.
The curriculum focuses primarily on the most common games, namely blackjack, poker, craps, roulette and baccarat.
This is a great way to learn an exciting job that is emblematic of the casino world. It consists of animating games on tables dedicated to traditional games.
For this, it is advisable to have some essential aptitudes like a good level in mental calculation and a concentration to any test. It is also important to be physically fit and to have excellent interpersonal skills.
T. Byrd Center officials say that graduates of their Casino Games Division program can expect to earn a starting annual salary of up to $50,000.
That’s an excellent salary when you consider that the median household income in the area was about $61,400 last year, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The current labor shortage in American casinos
The creation of this new dealer school in the Atlantic City area is great news for the entire local casino industry. Indeed, the demand for this profession is expected to increase by 14% over the next 2 years.
In addition, the entire U.S. casino industry as a whole is currently experiencing great difficulty in recruiting.
Gaming establishments across the country were forced to close their doors for several weeks during 2020 to combat the spread of the international Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. This has prompted quite a few dealers to change their line of work.
Thus, at the end of 2021, Atlantic City casinos, for example, had only 21,799 employees, which is a decrease of 18.5% compared to the same period in 2019.
Currently, there are more than 450 job openings on Indeed.com at gaming facilities in the city. Not all of them are for dealer positions, but also for housekeepers, cashiers or waiters, for example.
This labor shortage has even prompted the Hard Rock International group to set aside no less than $100 million to significantly increase the salaries of some of its employees, including dealers, for example.
