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The Big Gamble

Mass. Gaming Commission Approves Scholarships For Casino Dealer Schools

New England Public Media | By Nancy Eve Cohen
Published March 15, 2018 at 5:11 PM EDT
A blackjack game.
Images Money
/
Creative Commons / flickr.com/photos/59937401@N07
A blackjack game.

MGM is asking the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to help pay for Springfield-area residents to train as casino employees. The company has indicated it will hire more than 1,000 Springfield residents to work in the casino when it opens in September.

MGM's dealer school, run through Holyoke Community College and Springfield Technical Community College started its first dealer training classes in late February.

Students are learning to run table games such as blackjack and roulette.

Alex Dixon, MGM's general manager, said about 100 students have enrolled so far, but the $400 course fee may be keeping more from signing up.

"To be completely transparent, we need to find more people who are interested in this career, and to remove every barrier we can, to make sure that folks in the city of Springfield see it as a viable way to pursue that next step," said Dixon.

The Gaming Commission approved $60,000 in scholarships for dealer training.

MGM has promised to reimburse students who pay for the training out of pocket after they get hired and work at the casino for a year.
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Regional News GAMBLINGCITIESLABORWESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
Nancy Eve Cohen
Nancy Eve Cohen is a former NEPM senior reporter whose investigative reporting has been recognized with an Edward R. Murrow Regional Award for Hard News, along with awards for features and spot news from the Public Media Journalists Association (PMJA), American Women in Radio & Television and the Society of Professional Journalists.

She has reported on repatriation to Native nations, criminal justice for survivors of child sexual abuse, linguistic and digital barriers to employment, fatal police shootings and efforts to address climate change and protect the environment. She has done extensive reporting on the EPA's Superfund cleanup of the Housatonic River.

Previously, she served as an editor at NPR in Washington D.C., as well as the managing editor of the Northeast Environmental Hub, a collaboration of public radio stations in New York and New England.

Before working in radio, she produced environmental public television documentaries. As part of a camera crew, she also recorded sound for network television news with assignments in Russia, Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba and in Sarajevo during the war in Bosnia.
See stories by Nancy Eve Cohen
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