Casino Dealer School Opens Near Atlantic City, as Industry Seeks Workers
Posted on: October 13, 2022, 12:33h.
Last updated on: October 12, 2022, 07:42h.
A casino dealer school where future table game croupiers can hone their craft has opened just outside of Atlantic City in Pleasantville, NJ.
In response to most of its classes moving online, the T. Byrd Center, an education and career-advancement training facility, has opened up a “Casino Games Division.” With table game dealers presumably needing in-person schooling for the foreseeable future, the T. Byrd Center is launching programs to instruct future croupiers.
The training center says its casino instruction is focused on what employers and players seek in a skilled table game dealer.
What you learn is based on the primary skills employers want to see in the dealers they hire and what players like to see in the dealers they interact with and tip on the casino floor,” the center says of its newly formed department.
Students receive “on the job” training in a simulated casino environment to help enrollees increase their dealing speed, chip and play coordination, and overall confidence. The T. Byrd Center says the local job outlook for casino dealers is strong, as demand in Atlantic City is expected to grow 14% over the next two years.
“Casinos are in desperate need of quality trained dealers. Each of the Atlantic City casinos is recruiting dealers to meet demand,” the school’s website states.
Strong Starting Pay
Graduates of the T. Byrd casino dealer school can expect to earn a starting annual salary of up to $50,000. Per the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median household income in Atlantic County was about $61,400 last year.
Grads of the program will be competent in common casino table games, including blackjack, poker, craps, roulette, and baccarat. Trina Byrd, CEO of her namesake career training ground, says the casino dealer school made sense as the local gaming industry continues to seek qualified employees post-pandemic.
Byrd told the Press of Atlantic City this week that she’s brought on Angel Jones, who also runs the Casino Dealers Academy at the Tilton Shopping Center in Northfield, to spearhead her school’s casino division.
“She’s very respected and well-known in her industry,” Byrd said of Jones. “It was just the perfect marriage for us to get together.”
Labor Shortage
Atlantic City casinos counted 21,799 employees at the end of 2021, an 18.5% decline from December 2019, when the nine casinos employed 26,761 workers.
At the East Coast Gaming Congress last month at the Hard Rock, Atlantic City casino executives expressed some frustration in finding qualified gaming industry workers to satisfy the pandemic pent-up demand they’ve experienced over the past year. Numerous job fairs have been held, but plenty of jobs remain.
Job listings website Indeed.com currently has 488 casino jobs advertised for Atlantic City. Positions are available throughout the resorts, including openings for table game dealers, housekeepers, casino hosts, cashiers, and cocktail servers.
In an effort to reduce turnover and retain quality employees, Hard Rock in September announced it was investing $100 million into its team by increasing wages for non-tipped hourly workers at its casinos, restaurants, and hotels.