I’ve heard the claim more than once, that the majority of casino and hotel related jobs in Las Vegas are dehumanizing, poorly paying, meat grinder type jobs. This surprises me because I thought Las Vegas would want top quality people working in the casinos handling cash, and working with guests and gamblers.
How can you pay crappy wages, and still get someone sharp enough to run an efficient and productive gambling table? Can smart people be had that cheap, or is it not that hard a job to do well? It seems difficult to believe.
Another possibility: the pool of gamblers and potential employees is so large that the casinos just don’t care if they get an incompetent every once in a while - the gamblers will just move to a new table.
Dunno if my theory is any good, but it’s one that came to mind, anyway.
I’ve never worked at a Vegas casino, but I have worked in casinos before. I worked in the finance department (counting money, cashing in chips, changing in nickels/quarters, counting money, making change, counting money, etc) and I did a bit of time in the slot department (filling hoppers before those fancy ticket machines, paying jackpots, again before the fancy machines, etc.).
You really only need to know very basic math and that’s only at the beginning of a job. Eventually you just know that X number of Y chips equals Z dollar amount, or X number of nickel bags equals Y dollar amount, or 8 + 6 = 14 without even thinking about it. I remember once holding about $50,000 and realizing that it was really real money. Me: :eek: It becomes meaningless paper after a while, I guess.
I miss that job. Finance, not slots, because those coin bags are heavy (carrying 3 20 pound dollar toke bags across the floor is just not my idea of fun these days… good exercise though). I would really love to try my hand as a Vegas employee; I like the fast-paced nature of the job. And the tips.
Pay around here used to be $8.25/hr. Finance kept their own tips, slots pooled. Start pay went up to $9.20 (for finance anyway, not sure about slots) and they pool their tips now, too.
The jobs can’t be too bad in casinos, I would think. Here in Niagara Falls, there were over three times as many applicants as positions available when Seneca Niagara opened. Of course this was Da Falls, not known for high employment rates. Still, some of my co-workers’ relatives work there, and they say the work is tolerable, if monotonous. Don’t know anyone who’s quit working yet.
I live here in Las Vegas and the answer is sometimes yeah, sometimes not.
If you are in housecleaning, or food services or those types of jobs, the pay is better than mnimum wage, but the hours are long and the work is not great.
If you are a dealer at a table, a lot has to do with the hotel, your shift and how busy the hotel is. Tips are usually, but not always, divided amongst all the dealers. This makes it fair for the schmucks who have to works the bad shifts, or get the slower tables that night. I am going on hearsay from the husband of a co-worker. He deals blackjack.
Once you start getting to management level, it is a new ball game. Many, if not all, casinos award bonuses and salary raises based on how business is going. A good year can be very, very profitable for some of those employees. A bad year can be your last year - unless there is a good reason (9/11) for a dip in profits.
For the most part, casinos are no different that any large corporation…the big wigs reap the big bucks, and the lowly staff gets paid what the going rate is. One advantage however is that seniority in a casino makes all the difference, so the longer you can put up with it, the more lucrative it can be. A cocktail sever at one local casino, in the “high rollers” sections, is reputed to earn over $300,000 year in tips. Her co-workers, doing the same job 50 feet away, are probably lucky to get $40,000.
