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Hello all,
I am inquiring about casino dealer jobs in the Deadwood area. I've been a dealer in Henderson, Nv for a year. I can deal Craps, 21, Roulette, 3 Card Poker, 21 Pitch, and Pai Gow tiles. How hard is it to get a dealer job in Deadwood as far as competition, do you need to know someone? Anyone have any ideas how the tips are in the summer and winter season?
Generally speaking it isn't too difficult getting dealer jobs especially with experience. Tips very greatly depending on which shifts you work and where. Some places have a 24/7 tip split, but most places do the tip split during the shift/time your clocked in. Best case scenario (with enough seniority to pick your shifts at the busiest tables in town) you would be in the upper 40's to low 50's range but upper 20's to mid 30's are more the norm. You don't usually need to be in the who knows who list if you have a good personality positive attitude to get your foot in the door - getting the ideal schedule can take years to dial in since most casinos you will find the same dealers having been there longer than most of the management has.
Be careful before moving there. I know things are tough in LV right now but Deadwood is dying. The Lucky Nuggett closed and other casinos are laying off or at the least not hiring. Colorado bet limits going up to $100 has put the hurt on Deadwood. Also this is the worst time of the year for Deadwood. There are jobs in the Black Hills but don't expect to walk into a dealing job where you make 50k. I know several dealers there and dealing blackjack is about 30-40k full time. For poker it is next to impossible to get 40 hours a week.
Lucky Nugget was being leased (for a crazy big number) from KLK properties (Kellar estate) plus the slots were owned/managed by a separate entity as well. Roomer on the street was the operators were behind from day one. The owner of the building passed away about a year ago and the estate still owns the nugget complex plus a large amount of other commercial properties in the area - Ken Kellar supposedly was using his businesses here as a write off and they were a drop in the bucket of his total net worth. Deadwood is more spread out now and gaming commission posted higher numbers overall - almost every year #'s go up, but the pie is getting more spread out, when the Deadwood Mountain Grand opens, Home and the economy continues to recover I think there will more to go around once again. Every fall casinos cut-back and the Nugget has changed hands 4 times in the last 20 yrs. Unless they add rooms to the upper level of that complex it will always struggle to pencil. Also having spoken with a national gaming consultant firm recently - it had done some research and they showed Deadwood as being one of the most resilient gaming markets in the US. Year over year numbers from August '04 to August '10 show August '10 as the second highest. gaming statistics (http://www.state.sd.us/drr2/reg/gaming/statistics/stats.htm - broken link) all while most areas are suffering 15 to 30 percent drops. Deadwood is alive and well! I agree with LVPoker1 suggestions and #'s, but second sentence on Deadwood dying is just wrong as far as the gaming #'s show.
The smoking ban passing is going to hurt Deadwood even more. Montana, Illinois and Colorado all had 20% revenue drops after passing casino smoking bans. Since reservations don't have a ban expect them to take some business from people that are just passing through the state. Combining the mining slow down in Wyoming with Colorado bet limits going to $100 with unlimited games and hours and now a smoking ban Deadwood is facing its biggest challenges since gambling became legalized.
Note that Hickok's, Saloon #10 and the Lucky Nugget (out of business) are all or sale. Combine this with the slime building construction and The Lodge opening and it is incredibly overbuilt. The Gold Dust just changed hands yet again in a fire sale. I wish my friends in Deadwood good luck, the times ahead will be tough.
Yea, but Deadwood has the tourism aspect as well as the historical. I think the state is doing a good job in trying to get the Black Hills out there across the country for people to know and recognize, the show "Deadwood" also made a large amount of tourists come to the area. Plus, for the next couple years, South Dakota is going to have a float in the Thanksgiving Day parade in NYC! South Dakota & the Black Hills float to appear in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade | The Black Hills Travel Blog I think Deadwood will be fine, every time I'm out there the casinos are full.
SD certainly does a good job of marketing itself and it has the 2nd strongest economy in the US. I just think Deadwood is overbuilt for its draw and the environment right now (CO gaming/limits, smoking ban, three casinos for sale) will be a tough time for Deadwood to overcome in the short term.
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