Lost Casino Jobs – How Changing Times Changed The Workplace
Lost Casino Jobs That No Longer Exist
If we look back at many service industries going back 50 years, we can see that thanks to automation and better management processes, many jobs have now become obsolete. The same goes for lost casino jobs at the first land-based casinos. Let’s have a look at some of the jobs that were once very popular but which no longer exist today.
Lost Casino Jobs: Board Person
Today all bookmakers and sportsbooks like Bovada Casino have large digital wall boards, with which they display the ever-changing odds. But once upon a time, these were blackboards that were filled in by hand using chalk. You can imagine how busy these board writers must have been as the odds were constantly being updated. These lost casino jobs required an eye for detail, as well as legible writing under pressure.
Catwalk Surveillance Officer
The old Las Vegas-based Barbary Coast Casino used to employ catwalk surveillance officers above the gaming tables. Today, every casino gambler knows the term “the eye in the sky.” This refers to the ever-present surveillance equipment. But its name derived from real security guards who would use binoculars to spy on the players as they sat around the various gaming tables below them. In fact, the job of finding casino cheaters was once the main concern for the security officers walking the thin catwalks above the player’s heads.
Security personnel would use binoculars to look down on the tables in the hope of catching cheating players. This could involve players counting cards in blackjack, touching the roulette chips after the “no more bets” has been called, or even handling the craps dice with more than one hand. Another interesting fact was that the players couldn’t see the security guards, thanks to a one-way mirror ceiling being installed.
Lost Casino Jobs: Change Girls
Since casinos first introduced slot machines, there have been Change Girls. In fact, at one time during the early heady days of Las Vegas, over 10,000 unionized workers roamed the casino gaming floors. They would wear leather pouches around their waist from which they would dispense change in the form of coins, as well as collect paper bills. Most of these workers were women, who also wore cute outfits.
Though the Standard Change Makers introduced a machine to do this job in 1964, Change Girls still existed up until the early 90s. This is because slot players were reluctant to leave their seats once they found a hot slot machine. At the time, the serious slot players like to receive their quarters in neat little rolls. With most of the gamblers being men, they also enjoyed the company of the glamourous Change Girls. But that was all to come to an end with the introduction of coinless machines. Once slot machines came with “bill validators”, the job of change girl was over. Today virtually all casino games can accept bills of any denomination. The Change Girls were added to the list of lost casino jobs.
Shill Poker Player
Back in the day, land-based casinos would employ their own poker players who were tasked with beginning games and also keeping dying games alive. Part of their job was also insuring the games appeared to have more winning potential than in truth. At the beginning of each shift, they were given casino money to spend, which they were then required to turn in when the shift was over. If you consider the casino percentage of gamblers coming to Las Vegas the tourist, they offered easy pickings for the casinos to increase their profits by utilizing shill players. Of course, regular local gamblers would be able to identify these players. Over time, shill players started giving casinos a bad name. As result, the job evolved into using proposition players.
The “prop player” used their own money and are able to keep winning. The job was to sit at gaming tables and not leave until told to do so. Regulation 23 was passed by the Nevada Gaming Commission in 1975. It mandated that all these prop players had to identify themselves as such. Furthermore, all casinos had to notify their patrons if they were using shill or prop players at the gaming tables. As you can imagine, these promptly became lost casino jobs. We should point out that prop players are still legal in Nevada. However, it’s not considered cool for a casino to utilize them. Though the larger casino resorts on the Strip will never use them, you may find prop players in smaller establishments off the Strip.
Lost Casino Jobs: Jubilee Showgirls
In the past, virtually every major casino in Las Vegas had a showgirl show. These were incredibly popular from the 1950s through to the 1980s. But in 2016, the very last showgirl show called “Jubilee”, which took place a Bally’s finally closed after playing continuously for 35 years. And with this, died the era of showgirls.
These French-inspired extravagances with the look and feel of the Moulin Rouge were often very costly. On the whole, they were financed by the casino’s hotel arms to the tune of up to $10 million for a launch. Along with another $1 million in annual maintenance. Yet it wasn’t considered necessary that shows should recoup their losses. In fact, they are what are known as “loss leaders.” The purpose of these shows was to bring gamblers into the casino and keep them there. Keep in mind that in the early days, casino gambling accounted for a staggering 75% of the total casino revenue.
Today, we can see that this equation has been turned on its head. The casino games themselves only account for around 25% of the casino’s income. Also, the casino corporate owners no longer put on shows themselves. Rather independent producers are encouraged to rent out the showrooms for their own performances. Yet this tactic has failed miserably. Not one showgirl performance has been seen since the Jubilee show came to an end. So this profession in Vegas really has resulted in lost casino jobs.
Showroom Captain
In smaller casino showrooms, such as those found in Atlantic City, there would be employees whose job was to coordinate where guests can sit. Of course, the best seats were reserved for high rollers who also happen to be the highest tippers. As a result, some seats could command huge sums, as gamblers assume that the highest-paying seats had better juju. Thankfully, when you take a seat at a Bovada Casino live dealer game of poker, you won’t have to worry about paying a huge tip.
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