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New Poker Room Will Add Jobs At Casino |
A high-stakes poker room opening next month in the Seneca Niagara Casino will mean a substantial payoff in jobs.
Fifty blackjack dealers currently employed at the casino will be transferred to the new room, which will open up 50 to 60 vacancies in the blackjack department, casino officials said.
"The additional employment is not only good for the casino, but will be a boost to the Western New York economy," said Rickey L. Armstrong Sr., president of the Seneca Nation of Indians. A new restaurant in the casino is also scheduled to open in May, adding several more jobs, officials said.
New blackjack dealers won't be hard to find, said Margaret Topor, director of community education at Niagara County Community College. In cooperation with the casino, the college began a new course in January to train blackjack dealers. The first 120-hour course in March graduated more than 40 students, all of whom were offered positions in the casino.
Another 50 will graduate when the current class is completed at the end of April. Classes are held in the former Occidental Building - now called the Aqua Plaza - at 360 Rainbow Boulevard in downtown Niagara Falls. Niagara development officials applauded the cooperative initiative of the college and the casino.
"This new program can be an important part of our overall economic development," said Samuel M. Ferraro, executive director of the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency and county commissioner of planning, development and tourism.
The blackjack course - one of 175 offered in Topor's department - is so popular the college will offer an associate's degree course in gaming and casino operations, beginning this fall or early 2005. Topor said the goal of her department is to keep people in the region.
With a current work force of 2,225 people, the downtown Niagara Falls casino is Niagara County's third largest employer, topped only by Delphi Thermal Systems, with 4,400 employees, and the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, which employs 2,936.
The casino currently employs 460 dealers in games ranging from poker to roulette.
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