Casino dealers question

I applied for a security position for the new casino in Columbus, Ohio. I received an email about positions as a dealer.

This part is what concerns me:

Q. How am I going to get training?
A. You will be required to attend dealer training school. We are partnering with Hondros College to provide training for you.
The school will be located in the Haydocy building adjacent to the Hollywood Casino Career Center on West Broad Street. A schedule of available times will be provided once you have successfully completed the panel interview process.
Classes will cost $200 each, which will be reimbursed after one year of employment with us. We have partnered with COWIC for anyone requiring financial assistance to attend this unprecedented training.

I take it that one pays for the dealer training and if one passes, then they will receive a job?

This is pretty common in the industry. It's likely that they can just give your position to someone else while you're in the school. So you might finish the school and not have a job. Or they could send 20 people to the school, even though they only need 10.

OK.......

So your saying there is no guarantee of anything IF I apply for a dealer position.

Btw, pay is $4.50/hr + tokes

Those are probably shared tokes, and hopefully ones you don't have to share with a pit boss or supervisor.

What is the definition of a class? Is that like taking a course, where there are multiple meeting times or classes or is that one single class?

It sucks that they can decide to release you before one year so they don't have to reimburse you. I wonder if they could get enough people revolving through to do that? I have dealt with beginner dealers. They are slower and do make mistakes, but I actually seem to win with them. I do not like the greased lightning dealers. I don't know how many times I catch them miscounting when a lot of small cards are dealt. You better say "Whoa" immediately as they start to pick up your bet, if you feel you won or pushed, or they won't go back.

They state either shared or individual tokes in the email.

No specifics on the class/course are given such as length of time, hours, schedule, or much of anything else.

The thought process for waiting a year to reimburse someone might be the casino doesn't want to invest in hiring/training someone and have that person immediately go to work for another casino company. Think of it as a non-compete agreement.

Have you scheduled the first step, the panel interview?

I'm thinking about it, although I doubt it due my finances being for crap. I simply can't afford to take the time off from work to attend any class without making my situation worse.

From discussions with dealers at Bellagio, most started out at crappy hole in the wall places, and that was after training. Hours and hours of their "training" consisted of practicing pitching the cards against a wall and counting, learning the ropes, etc. Now they make six figures (at the better places).

I think if one had visions of being a dealer, the $200 investment might not be bad, though I sure don't know the standard tuition for dealers school. But if $200 is a budget buster for you, this may not be the time.

I seriously doubt that they are going to release you after one year if you are any good. I can't see $200 standing in the way of hiring you! If they need dealers...which they seem to...$200 is nothing to get a qualified dealer.

The $200 isn't the problem, it's the 4 weeks of NO income that is the problem.

Note: While the idea of being a dealer is a nice one. It's more on the lines of a higher paying job.