Casino employees, c'mon in!

[gtinms]

I see there is a Casino 101 thread where people complain about or give praise to the casinos - as customers. I've recently completed dealing school and learned bj, craps, poker, roulette, and a couple of the carnival games. The majority of my 11 years in the business were spent at the bell desk of an 1100 room property, but I did a coupla months of valet at the beginning. The 3 years since Katrina, I've been on the supervisor end of the front services department...valet, bells, and limos.

So, are there any present or past employees of these places that can tell me how it is there? If you have any experience in other gaming/hospitality areas (Vegas, NJ, Tunica, etc), even better!

[gtinms]

No one??

[decepticobra]

Im under the impression that youre a transplant and not originally from Oklahoma. While its true that there are some Oklahoma casino employees who originally hail from "casino towns", the majority of employees at Oklahoma's casinos are locals who have been schooled by the tribal casinos themselves.

Ive met a few dealers at various OK tribal casinos that are from Vegas, Reno and perhaps Shreveport or Kansas City. Ive yet to met anyone originally from Atlantic City though.

[gtinms]

That's correct. Between 2 properties, I've spent 11 years in the casinos here on the MS Gulf Coast. The guy who opened the poker room and I beleive table games at WinStar taught me poker.

I've spoken to reps from Riverwind and WinStar regarding employment. I forget which one, but one doesn't generally hire right into a dealer position. I assume this is so you can be evaluated on your ability, attendance, and attitude. The other says they do from time to time, depending on experience. Both seem to be nice properties, but I haven't spent a lot of time in either.

[Stan Silliman]

Cobra icon to Cobra icon? What are the odds?

Oops, if anybody should know it ought to be these gaming experts.

Mississippi guy, I'm assuming Biloxi, have you ever run into my comedian friend Mike West, who lived in OKC for awhile? He's a chubby guy doing Southern humor.

[Luke]

Cobra icon to Cobra icon? What are the odds?

lol

[decepticobra]

That's correct. Between 2 properties, I've spent 11 years in the casinos here on the MS Gulf Coast. The guy who opened the poker room and I beleive table games at WinStar taught me poker.

I've spoken to reps from Riverwind and WinStar regarding employment. I forget which one, but one doesn't generally hire right into a dealer position. I assume this is so you can be evaluated on your ability, attendance, and attitude. The other says they do from time to time, depending on experience. Both seem to be nice properties, but I haven't spent a lot of time in either.

Im betting it was the Winstar that told you they wont hire right into a dealer position. Both Riverwind and Winstar are both owned by the Chickasaw Nation, the latter being their crown jewel with heavy advertisement consistently in North Texas which accounts for the majority of their revenue.

The larger and more profitable a casino becomes, the more likely they are to place stringent emphasis on hiring only those employees who have key credentials already established.

Id like to see a financial demograhic chart detailing all of Oklahoma's casinos, lisiting them in numerical order from most profitable to the least profitable. Winstar would most certainly be somewhere in the top 5, easily.

[gtinms]

Mississippi guy, I'm assuming Biloxi, have you ever run into my comedian friend Mike West, who lived in OKC for awhile? He's a chubby guy doing Southern humor.

I worked in Biloxi for 8.5 years. I bet that is the same guy. Prolly early to mid 50s in 2005, used to work for Bonkerz Comedy Club? Had a 40-year-old looking suitcase with stickers all over it and a white Grand Marqius/Crown Vic? He was from somewhere up in Mississippi, around Meridian, IIRC - really nice and cool guy. After Katrina, the comedy show didn't come back. I was working graves one night before the storm and caught Mike and asked him about comedians similar to Bill Hicks and he mentioned Mitch Hedburg.

A couple of the comedians I remember from Bonkerz were The Disgrunteld Clown (had this stupid scooter he rode between his room to the showroom) and Grandmaw or Granny something. She was known for a filthy mouth, but she probably wasn't the 1st to put on such an act.

If you got a video or picture of Mike, post it here please.

And the odds of two Cobra...not very likely...you want odds on your come bet or you wanna place the 4/10? Odds on your 4/10?

[gtinms]

Im betting it was the Winstar that told you they wont hire right into a dealer position. Both Riverwind and Winstar are both owned by the Chickasaw Nation, the latter being their crown jewel with heavy advertisement consistently in North Texas which accounts for the majority of their revenue.

The larger and more profitable a casino becomes, the more likely they are to place stringent emphasis on hiring only those employees who have key credentials already established.

Id like to see a financial demograhic chart detailing all of Oklahoma's casinos, lisiting them in numerical order from most profitable to the least profitable. Winstar would most certainly be somewhere in the top 5, easily.

That all seems right. WinStar is in a good location, for both employment and customer catchment area reasons. I called a coupla weeks ago to see about pulling double duty at WinStar and Riverwind. One said "you get enough hours at one property" (maybe since they are one employer they'd have to pay overtime?) and the other said I could only hold one gaming license. I know several dealers here who full-time and one and part time at another. The license here is state issued.

[Stan Silliman]

I worked in Biloxi for 8.5 years. I bet that is the same guy. Prolly early to mid 50s in 2005, used to work for Bonkerz Comedy Club? Had a 40-year-old looking suitcase with stickers all over it and a white Grand Marqius/Crown Vic? He was from somewhere up in Mississippi, around Meridian, IIRC - really nice and cool guy. After Katrina, the comedy show didn't come back. I was working graves one night before the storm and caught Mike and asked him about comedians similar to Bill Hicks and he mentioned Mitch Hedburg.

A couple of the comedians I remember from Bonkerz were The Disgrunteld Clown (had this stupid scooter he rode between his room to the showroom) and Grandmaw or Granny something. She was known for a filthy mouth, but she probably wasn't the 1st to put on such an act.

If you got a video or picture of Mike, post it here please.

And the odds of two Cobra...not very likely...you want odds on your come bet or you wanna place the 4/10? Odds on your 4/10?

You've got the right guy. He used to carry Elton John glasses in that suitcase and did a great impression of a rube at a tractor pull "Ya got any jumper cables?"

Grandma Lee has made it to the finals of "America's Got Talent."

I wish I had a picture of Mike West on line. I've got one from my Comedian's Cookbook but that book was never uploaded.

[evh5150]

That all seems right. WinStar is in a good location, for both employment and customer catchment area reasons. I called a coupla weeks ago to see about pulling double duty at WinStar and Riverwind. One said "you get enough hours at one property" (maybe since they are one employer they'd have to pay overtime?) and the other said I could only hold one gaming license. I know several dealers here who full-time and one and part time at another. The license here is state issued.

youd pull double duty at BOTH Riverwind and Winstar? Thats an 111 mile commute between each casino!

[gtinms]

youd pull double duty at BOTH Riverwind and Winstar? Thats an 111 mile commute between each casino!

I did 26 miles one way for 8.5 years and I was going 70 one way to New Orleans 2 or 3 times a week for 5 of those 8 years. 95% of that was interstate. If I kept my foot in it, I could make the trip to work in about 17 minutes. And often, the time from my driveway to the foot of Canal Street in New Orleans was between 55min and an hour, depending on traffic on canal.

The only thing that bothers me about that drive is the weather. I've never driven in snow. In any event, I wouldn't be opposed to the drive - not that I'm even going to be able to do what I'd planned on but...