Table games mean jobs in Chester and Bensalem

Ramping up Pennsylvania’s casinos will result in hundreds of good new jobs in the area, provided local gamers keep tipping well.

Table games are now up and running at two area casinos near Philadelphia. The gambling expansion means regional jobs.

Parx Casino in Bensalem and Harrah’s Chester now have everything from blackjack to roulette and craps.  The casino games are labor intensive, and in Chester alone that means 500 new positions.  Bob Guidice is head of table games at Harrah’s Chester.  He says most of the people dealing the cards and handling the dice are new to the business.

“We ran an in-house academy and are very very proud with the results,” he says. “We put about 700 people through the academy to net about 450.  Very very selective.  The recruitment process that we started before that, we put 3,500 people through and netted out 700 so it was one in five.”

The jobs are good paying, but only when you count tips.  Harrah’s wouldn’t say how much they are expecting an average dealer to make.  In the industry, it’s not unusual for dealers to earn 20 dollars an hour in tips.