When somebody says gaming services, images of the neon lights of the casinos of Las Vegas and Atlantic City doubtless invade the mind. No longer the only bastions of casino gaming outside of those run on native reservations, various casinos can now be found interspersed throughout the United States. With this sudden explosion in casino gaming, the industry of gaming services as a whole promises to grow faster than the average rate well into the next decade. Still, how does the career stack up?
Although casino gaming has recently been allowed to grow and prosper, it is not the entirety of the industry. Horse and dog racing tracks, as well as the central administration of the various state and regional lotteries, help to employ a good deal of the total number of workers.
High School or GED
177,100
13%
22,900
Gaming services is a very generic label that encompasses the guy or gal who is responsible for pulling out the nightly winning numbers on local television, the friendly blackjack dealer, the bookie rattling off odds at the dog track, and the pile of smiles offering to rent you a room for the night at the casino hotel without batting an eye. To that end, the requirements to get in on the ground floor vary just as widely.
How to Become a Casino Dealer
Given the very basic skillset necessary to work in the casino portion of the industry, a high school diploma or GED is not even strictly required to acquire an entry-level job as a dealer or other operator of a gaming table, though having one is preferred. Once hired, the primary source of useful education is on-the-job training. Casino floor managers, for example, are typically expected to have served as a dealer for most, if not all, of the games his floor offers. Prospective floor managers enjoy a significant advantage if holding an appropriate college degree, such as one in the soft sciences or business management.
Dealer Advancement
Once sufficient experience running the various table games offered by a casino has been acquired, a dealer can become promoted to the position of floor manager. Effectively the gaffer or pit boss for a number of casino table games, the floor manager is responsible for the continued clean operation of the table games under his jurisdiction. As such, photographic memory of the rules, the ability to project authority, and disciplined people skills that allow for the quick determination of the best means to put out fires are all skills that enhance a dealer’s chances at moving on up.
Consider joining the American Gaming Association, in order to keep up on news in the industry.
How to Become an Oddsmaker
Those who work in the various sports books, dog tracks and horse tracks interspersed throughout the United States have a slightly more restrictive set of educational requirements. Given the odds that must be rapidly ciphered, a bookie must have at least a high school diploma or GED. Further, most tracks administer a proprietary mathematics exam to assure that no dullards get the job.
While these restrictions make a qualified candidate more competitive than in the casino portion of the industry, they are also quite capable of excluding those who have not kept abreast of their mathematics. Given bookies are outward-facing professionals who deal with the client on a bet-to-bet basis, excellent customer service skills are an absolute requirement. Simply try to imagine a situation that needs defused quicker than an upset patron who bet wrong on the last race.
Oddsmaker Advancement
Much like a dealer, experienced bookies eventually become a foreman of other bookies and use their experience with the system to help keep it running smoothly in the face of the various fires that start on a daily basis. The same skillset comes highly recommended.
How to Become a Slot Technician
Both casinos and racinos have need of technicians to keep their fleets of gambling machines running at peak condition. There is no need for a high school diploma or GED to enter word as a slot machine technician; however, slot technician and slot attendant certifications are available for those who wish to have an edge in the hiring pool. Casinos and racinos typically put a new hire through several weeks of on-the-job training to allow the new asset time to learn the intricacies of that venue’s particular devices.
Slot Technician Advancement
As the mechanical arm of the casino industry, administrative roles are not the realm of the slot technician. Instead, a slot technician can expect to be given moreimpressive-sounding titles that just happen to have the same requirements. Particularly expensive and flashy slot machines may be the domain of the more experienced technicians on staff.
How to Become a Gaming Hospitality Manager
Many casinos have hotels attached to them in an effort to keep the clientele in one centralized location such that a higher proportion of each client’s gambling money ends up in the casino’s hands. In order to work in casino hospitality, a high school diploma or GED is not required; however, like most jobs in today’s society, a diploma offers a significant advantage over those without them.
The most important credential of all is the sort of personal magnetism and people skills that keep patrons happy. Consider that customers are going to tend to be more volatile than normal because there is a distinct possibility that a number of the hotel guests will have lost their shirts in the attached casino.
Hospitality Advancement
Given casino hospitality is the most traditionally people-facing portion of the casino business, it is also the most likely to move people into various casino middle management roles. These do not necessarily require any actual casino experience, but tend to focus on the realms of entertainment and the management of the hotel itself.
The casino is another beast entirely and the foreman-style management inside is its own thing until reaching the upper levels of management. The acquisition of a business degree helps to show upper management that this individual takes his career seriously and will significantly improve the odds of promotion.