Casino Jobs for Students and Graduates

Students and recent college graduates find working in the gaming industry to be satisfying and financially rewarding.

The hours are usually flexible so that students can easily work evenings and weekends, saving the weekdays for classes. And in this industry, there are numerous opportunities for seasonal summer employment, especially at casinos in Atlantic City, Deadwood, South Dakota, and the Lake Tahoe area. Many of the larger resort properties actively recruit on nearby college campuses. According to Janie Judd, Assistant Shift Manager at the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa and Casino, opportunities exist for summer seasonal employment, even for those without previous casino experience:

It is much more common now to take someone off the street who has never dealt before and teach him or her through one of our own dealing schools. For instance, Hyatt has a job fair every May where we recruit for our blackjack school. We look for people who can speak comfortably in public, are well-groomed, and are very eager and willing to work. We even pay student dealers minimum wage while they are going to our dealer school. Schools go about two to three weeks. The last few days before the school is over, we put them on a live game with a student teacher. Then when everybody feels comfortable we let them go on their own. We get a lot of help up here from college students who need the summer money and then go back to school in the fall. Also, someone who has worked here before definitely has a better chance for a permanent position later on down the line.

For those who have just graduated, spending a year or so working in a casino can generate seed money for other projects, such as starting a business. Tired of long, cold winters? Longing for a chance to bake in the desert? Recent grads we’ve talked with working in Las Vegas often cite the opportunity to get away from harsh winters for a couple of years as one of the main reasons they came to the city. Other gaming centers such as Deadwood and Cripple Creek, Colorado, may not have the optimum “balmy” winter weather, but they do offer other benefits, such as a small-town atmosphere, skiing, mountain biking, and scenic hiking opportunities.