If everything goes as planned, Lisa Ellis will soon be able to say, “Coming out, craps-eleven, any seven, horns, high-lows and hard ways”-and mean it.
She’ll know how to calculate odds in her head, set up and direct payoffs on bets, and count out stacks of chips without looking at them. And she’ll do it all with a smile and a friendly word, if her prospective bosses have their way.
Ellis, operator of a beauty parlor on Chicago’s South Side, was one of 24 students who began training as craps dealers Monday for the Elgin Grand Victoria Casino, slated to open in October. Chosen from more than 700 applicants, the students are enrolled in a free course that would cost thousands of dollars in Las Vegas.
But the operators of the Grand Victoria don’t want Vegas-style dealers, who often cater to high rollers with a formal manner and a minimum amount of chatter. Riverboat gamblers want entertainment as well as a chance at big bucks, and the proliferation of casinos nationwide means a smile is now as important to a dealer as fast hands and a careful eye.
“We feel people will go where they get good service, they feel appreciated, someone knows their name,” said Jim Thomason, Grand Victoria casino manager. “We’re in the entertainment business. We’re not in the gambling business.”
Though Las Vegas and Atlantic City resorts can depend on serious players who come solely to gamble, boats must attract repeat business from nearby areas, said one expert. And just as a waiter’s attitude might determine whether you return to a restaurant, so will a friendly dealer help occasional gamblers decide to return to a local casino.
“The boats know they have a different crowd,” said Bill Thompson, professor of public administration at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, who teaches courses on gambling regulation. “You go for the masses. You want repeat business. . . . (The approach) is definitely a marketing tool.”
High rollers “don’t want chitchat. They’re not there to make friends,” Thompson said. “An individual high roller would be uncomfortable on a boat.”
The changes brought about by the riverboats and the lack of formality found there have not extended to traditional gaming capitals, where dealers are still taught to keep their distance from customers, said a Las Vegas instructor.
“In entry-level (classes) I never like anybody chitchatting,” said Alan Mehr, director of training for the International Dealers School. “You want to entertain them by just being polite. You’re not allowed to fraternize with the customer.”
The 24 people chosen for the Grand Victoria 12-week craps class had to prove their people skills in a group interview first, introducing themselves and telling jokes in front of the instructors and other applicants. They were rated and selected for their warmth and appearance; now they must prove their manual dexterity and mathematical skills are as noteworthy as their first impressions.
The 12 enrolled in the morning session-an evening session also is being held-crowded around a craps table at the riverboat’s headquarters Monday and listened as instructor Larry Miller taught them the basics of counting out chips and figuring odds.
“It took me about 10 years to learn this. Remember to push, push the chips down,” said Miller, as some students complained that their hands hurt. “Set your chips down nice and gently, nice and neat. Craps dealers are neat people.”
Craps is the first class offered to aspiring dealers because it is the most difficult game to deal, said casino manager Jim Thompson. Sessions on blackjack and roulette will follow for those who can’t get the hang of craps.
“There’s several different betting combinations. There’s a lot of math computations . . . and it is a game that is very fast,” Thompson said. Craps “is by far the most difficult.”
The class is a strenuous one, with daily quizzes and weekly tests. Students must score at least 80 percent on the tests; if they go below that they are allowed one re-test, but must score 90 percent or above on that. Failing that is grounds for dismissal from the 200-hour course, as is missing three consecutive classes or seven total classes.
Appearance guidelines are equally strict, even during classes: on the forbidden list are jeans, shorts, miniskirts, leather, Lycra, beards, nose rings, and earrings for men.
Miller, who entered the gaming business 30 years ago as a shill in a Las Vegas casino, sees no contradiction between the emphasis on personality and the stringent requirements on professionalism. Miller thinks both aspects are crucial to gaming success.
“We like to think to ourselves, this is a serious business not to be taken seriously,” he said. “This is a very, very good opportunity for these people.”
Most of his students agree. Julianne Jochec, 25, of Elgin, is a cocktail waitress at the Hollywood Casino in Aurora. She wants to stay in the gaming business because “it’s fast-paced and you get to meet a lot of new people,” but wants to switch to craps dealing because it would be “a great career opportunity.”
Ellis, 31, hopes the luck she has always had playing craps extends to her dealing career. An avid bowler, she used to travel to Las Vegas to bowl and began playing craps before she knew how the game worked.
“I would go over to the craps table and stand by it,” Ellis said, and eventually she just began placing bets, once parlaying $20 into $1,700. “People would say, `What are you doing?’ I’d say, `I don’t know, but whatever I’m doing, I’m getting money back.’ “
She gradually learned the rules, and she is confident she’ll do as well behind the table as she did in front of it: “If I come every day, learn and practice, I don’t think I’ll have a problem.”
