Casino Dealer 101

E-mail this article Print this article

Theresa Detuncq is two days into training at Blackjack Academy. At 21, she's affectionately known as the "baby" of the 25-member class. She's hoping to use her casino-dealer training to leave her waitressing job, pay for an accounting degree and support her 2 1/2-year-old twin sons.

"Having twins is very expensive, and I just know this could be a good part-time job," Detuncq said. Her mother is a card dealer; so are her mother's friends.

For Detuncq and other students, casino schools promise a quick ticket to high incomes, flexible hours, good benefits and "a job I actually enjoy," said the Auburn resident.

A cottage industry of dealer schools is growing in the Puget Sound region in the wake of state legislation passed three years ago that allowed nontribal, commercial casinos to run house-bank card games such as blackjack. A host of new jobs for non-Indian casino workers has opened up.

From zero house-banked card rooms in 1996 to 57 today, house-banked casinos are now one of Washington's fastest growing industries, according to the state Gambling Commission. They employ 10,000 workers, from card dealers to surveillance specialists. Fourteen tribal casinos also operate in Washington; they'll also hire from schools such as Blackjack Academy.

"Right now there's probably as much, if not more, opportunity than there ever has been in the industry," said Steve Griffiths, a consultant to six tribal casinos and owner of PJ Pockets Casino in Federal Way.

In addition to Burien's Blackjack Academy, there's a Casino Dealers School in Edmonds and Ace Academy in Shelton and Tacoma.

Susan Arland, rules coordinator for the gambling commission, said, "It's definitely not a bad thing. ... the better trained people are in the rules and operations, the smoother things will go." The schools must register with the gambling commission.

Casinos won't hire dealers until they pass an audition on their skills. That's where the schools come in.

"What I'm doing is basically offering them a leg up on the competition," said Chris O'Donnell, owner of Blackjack Academy.

The curriculum - which costs students anywhere from $600 to $1,000 - goes something like this: Six to eight weeks of classes, four hours per day, five days per week. Students learn to play games such as blackjack, Caribbean stud, pai gow and three-card poker.

Students also learn what's known as game protection. "As soon as you start working with money, the scams will come out," O'Donnell said. "It's easy to teach someone to deal once they know what hazards to look for: marking cards, cheating, stealing."

The schools stock casinos regionwide. "I have been placing almost everybody," said O'Donnell, who has so far graduated 130 dealers.

Every time a new casino opens, it hires up to 80 dealers, said Lou Calabrese, general manager of Funsters Grand Casinos in SeaTac, scheduled to open in July. "The dealer base (in the area) isn't big enough to just hire experienced dealers off the street."

"The dealers are making fantastic money out here," O'Donnell said. "Dealers are averaging about $200 per day, between tips and wages - all of the casinos out here have medical, dental. These are good jobs."

"For an average entry-level job, it's hard to make that kind of money out there," said Eric Smileuske, who co-owns Ace Academy with his wife, Jessica.

Amanuel "Amir" Ghebrmdskel, 26, a graduate of Blackjack Academy, said he plans to use money from his new casino job in Everett to help pay for schooling for a degree in international business. "I'm excited," he said. "People don't understand everything they can do with this job. You can do a lot."

Mobility in this industry is "straight up," said Smileuske.

Many workers start as dealers and eventually become casino managers. There are about 3,400 dealer spots in Washington state, and about 10 percent of those are constantly changing, said Smileuske.

"It's not that people getting into it don't like it, it's that people getting into it are moving and opening up the positions," Smileuske said.

One student at Ace Academy's Tacoma site, former Bellevue resident John Moore, already works at a casino doing surveillance.

He jumped into the industry after working at a Target store. "This has a lot more advancement potential than before," Moore said.

Griffiths, owner of the PJ Pockets Casino and treasurer of the Washington State Council on Problem Gambling, which is composed of state and industry representatives, said the time is ripe now for advancement to top-tier management.

"I'm not universally a proponent of game, but this is ideal for a young person trying to get into something, especially if you have very little training or background or skills," Griffiths said. "This is where someone can train you in six to eight weeks and you can work your way to the top. In this particular industry, you can control your path."

That's why Cindy Henley is taking the course in Burien. She's 37, a mother of two, a waitress, and "ready for a career change."

"As opposed to two years in community college, it gives you an opportunity to make just as much money dealing cards," Henley said. "I plan on making a career out of it. My next step, after a few years experience in Washington, is probably to go to Las Vegas or Reno."

Moore said the mobility is what is attractive to him. "It just gives me the option to go where I want to go, and that's what excites me. Because I can go anywhere."

Said Detuncq: "You remember when you're younger you just do a job because you have to? Well, I know I'll love this job."