Valley Forge casino pushing to recruit dealers

These days, it seems every other casino, not to mention states just adding gambling, is in the hunt for the same thing: table-game dealers.

Demand has quickly outstripped supply, casino operators say.

Hence the predicament Valley Forge Casino Resort faces as Pennsylvania's 11th gambling hall, preparing for a spring debut: Two hundred fifty to 300 dealers will be required when the casino opens in March at the Valley Forge Convention Center, management says, but it currently has only 90 prospects going through training.

Assuming at least half graduate, that's only about one-sixth the number needed.

"It's definitely a concern," said Anthony Spagno, vice president of table games for the casino, next to Valley Forge National Historical Park and two miles from King of Prussia mall. "Everyone in my position in the Southeastern Pennsylvania market will tell you the same thing: It's very competitive."

So much so, Spagno said, his casino will launch an aggressive dealer outreach early next month, continuing through January. The search could extend into Florida and Las Vegas, he said.

"We'll recruit as far out as we have to," Spagno said recently as he surveyed two meeting rooms at the Radisson Hotel at the convention center that have been converted into training rooms. "The key is to get the right mix of experienced and new dealers . . . to tie in with what we want to do here."

Valley Forge will be the first of two Category 3 casino resorts (meaning only guests or users of the hotels and their amenities, not the general public, can gamble) to open. Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Southwestern Pennsylvania snatched the second license earlier this year.

Under the state's gambling law, a casino resort is allowed up to 600 slot machines and 50 table games (poker, blackjack, and so on). Valley Forge's management plans to add 15 tables for monthly poker tournaments.

Its table inventory will pale compared with the region's other gambling houses, with which it must compete for dealers: Parx, in Bensalem, currently has 183 tables; Sands Casino Bethlehem, 129; and Harrah's Chester in Delaware County, 121.

Since table games debuted in July 2010, virtually all 10 state casinos have added to their offerings. (Revenue from tables is taxed at a much lower rate than slots revenue, 16 percent vs. 55 percent.) In the last year, Parx and Sands Bethlehem each opened elaborate poker rooms and high-limit rooms for VIPs.

As of last month, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board says, there were 946 table games, compared with 693 in October 2010. On average, each requires at least three dealers for 24/7 staffing.

"The demand is strong. We're providing a pipeline for our local casino," said Brook Hunt, who runs the Center for Workforce Development at Montgomery County Community College, which has partnered with Valley Forge to offer dealer training.

The current class, divided into two sessions, started Nov. 7 and concludes March 2. The college provided the curriculum (approved by the Gaming Control Board) and 10 instructors; the casino provided the facility, tables, and supplies. Tuition: $1,800.

The 90 would-be dealers enrolled, all novices and mostly from Montgomery County, must obtain four certifications each to graduate: introduction to table games (one week); blackjack-carnival games (120 hours); CPR (three hours), and one elective, either craps (160 hours), roulette (120 hours), baccarat (120 hours), or Pai Gow poker (80 hours).

"I hope that they all get through, for obvious reasons," Spagno said.

Among the prospects is David Friedrich, a 20-year-old from Gwynedd. Although he's not yet old enough to gamble (minimum age is 21), he just had to be 18 to enroll in dealer school. He said he clicked on Valley Forge's online ad for dealers when he logged into his account at the college, where he's studying business.

"I wanted to get something that paid more than my current job, and something exciting," said Friedrich, who now does building maintenance.

Wages and benefits for dealers have become highly competitive in this region, and not by accident. Dealer certification is portable, good anywhere in Pennsylvania. (Each state has its own requirements.)

Nationwide, the average hourly rate for a table-game dealer is between $7 and $8 - tips make up about 90 percent of a dealer's income. Citing competitive reasons, the Southeastern Pennsylvania casinos declined to disclose their dealers' hourly rates.

Parx, the state's top-grossing casino, will need 300 more dealers - about as many as Valley Forge needs altogether - just to staff its latest expansion, scheduled for completion next fall.

"We spend a significant amount of money for recruitment and in-house dealer training to ensure stellar customer service," said Darlene Monzo, vice president of marketing at Parx. "Put simply, we don't want to lose any of our valued team members to other properties."

SugarHouse, on the Delaware River, announced an expansion Sept. 20, with plans to double the size of its gaming floor and add 25 to 40 table games and a poker room by fall 2013.

Harrah's Chester Casino and Racetrack is undergoing another expansion to add table games. Its next dealer-training academy - offered free of charge as an incentive, said director of table games Susan Foster - begins Wednesday.

Plus, there's the stable of dealers that Atlantic City's 11 casinos must maintain to staff venues just 60 miles away.

Increasingly, out-of-state casinos, too, are lining up against Valley Forge in the competition for dealers.

The first of four Ohio casinos opens next year. Maryland's slots-only casinos are pushing for table games.

"We all have the same issue," said Spagno, himself recruited last summer from Trump Plaza Casino in Atlantic City, where he was manager of table games.

"It's a race."