Gaming services worker essential career information:
- 2012 median pay: $23,490
- 2010 number of jobs: 177,100
- Employment growth forecast, 2010-2020: 13 percent
- Entry-level education requirements: High school diploma or GED
Gaming services workers; what they do:
People in an array of positions keep the gaming industry hopping. A good deal of the excitement happens within casinos and racetracks, where some gaming services workers take bets and pay the winners, some are sports book writers and runners, and others are gaming dealers. Higher up the chain, gaming managers, gaming supervisors and slot supervisors also play a big role.
Success in a gaming services career often depends on an applicant’s ability to deal well with people from all walks of life and all income levels. Gaming managers and gaming supervisors take responsibility for people who work in their assigned area, but they also keep an eye on the gaming tables to ensure adequate staff and proper operations.
Customer service comprises the bulk of slot supervisors’ duties because of increased automation, with both casinos and racetrack casinos using video slot machines.
A gaming dealer career involves dealing cards, spinning the roulette wheel or managing craps games. Gaming and sports book writers and runners take and record bets on sporting events.
Gaming services workers duties:
- Keeping an eye out for suspicious behavior
- Addressing customer complaints about services
- Hiring, training and scheduling workers if they supervise a gaming area
- Replacing unpopular gaming machines and choosing replacement to ensure maximum usage
- Resetting cash slot machines after a payout
- Providing cards and dice to customers
- Advising players of a game’s rules
- Scanning tickets and determining winnings
- Announcing numbers for such games as bingo and keno
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Gaming services job titles:
- Gaming dealer
- Gaming supervisor
- Gaming manager
- Cage worker
- Slot supervisor
- Gaming surveillance officer
- Runner
- Sports book writer
Gaming Services Workers Education, Certification and License Requirements
People interested in a gaming services worker career generally need a high school diploma or GED. For supervisory positions, management courses help, but a formal post-secondary education usually isn’t required.
Some schools offer an associate’s degree in casino operations, casino management or gaming management. Some schools provide a bachelor’s degree in casino management or certificates for gaming managers. Some colleges and universities provide a hospitality management degree with a gaming or casino specialization.
Most casino or gaming services workers receive formal training from their employers.
State regulatory agencies license gaming services workers, who must provide a photo, pay a fee and pass background and drug tests.
Gaming services worker programs cover subjects such as:
- Introduction to gaming industry
- Casino security
- Hospitality leadership
- Casino operations
- Marketing
- Hospitality sales
- Surveillance technology
- Gaming technology and operations
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Career Advancement Opportunities
Gaming dealers can advance in their career to a gaming supervisor job and later to a gaming manager job. A slot supervisor can advance in their gaming services career to a gaming manager job.
Gaming Services Workers Job Outlook
Forecast: 13 percent employment growth in jobs for gaming services workers from 2010 to 2020. The increasing popularity of gaming, with new Native American casinos and racinos at racetracks powering the projected rise in work for gaming services workers. Work for gaming dealers could increase 17 percent because of the demand for more table games. Slot machine technology will likely result in only 6 percent growth in jobs for slots supervisors.
Gaming Services Workers Salary
- 2012 median annual wage: $23,490
- 2012, workers at the 75th percentile annual wage: $31,120
- 2012, workers at the 25th percentile annual wage: $17,230
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Major Employers
- Local government agencies
- Traveler accommodation sector
- Gambling industries
- Employment services
- Civic and social organizations
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