Previous Atlantic Club Workers Swarm Golden Nugget Job Fair

Many Atlantic Club employees shown right here on the casino’s last in business in January were job-hunting at Golden Nugget this week in Atlantic City (Image: AP/Wayne Parry day)
When the folks at the Golden Nugget Atlantic City announced an ’emergency jobs fair’ to fill some newly produced customer service spots, they may have barely expected to be greeted by a cast of over a thousand task seekers lining up across the block. And yet the casino opened its doors this week up to a great number of hopefuls vying to fill just 50 positions; sadly, the employees that are prospective facing the worst odds within the casino.
Atlantic Club Employees Turn Out in Droves
Lots of the out-of-work were workers that are former the Atlantic Club, which filed for bankruptcy in November 2013 after failing to compete keenly against the newer and larger casinos of Atlantic City. The Atlantic Club was offered in December for $23.4 million, to be stripped for parts, after having a last-minute deal with PokerStars.com fell through because of issues over the outstanding indictment on the company’s creator Isai Scheinberg. Some 1,600 people destroyed their jobs whenever it finally shut its doors on January 13th of the year; some had been because of the casino since its inception.
Golden Nugget general manager Tom Pohlman said the casino’s burgeoning business was in part due to the closure of the unfortunate Atlantic Club. The Golden Nugget is comparable in size, and many associated with Atlantic’s former customers now frequent the Nugget. Pohlman confirmed that a few thousand former Atlantic clients now have players’ club cards at his casino.
‘It’s important to us to maintain a specific standard of customer solution, and we must bring in immediate assistance,’ he said. ‘It’s unfortunate to see how many individuals are here because meaning a lot of people in Atlantic City are away from work. But there are great prospects here, and we can pick the most readily useful of the best.’
Hard to Find Work
Pat Van Woeart one of many hopefuls worked in a coffee shop at the Atlantic Club and has now been out of work since it had been turn off.’It’s been terrible’ she said. ‘I’ve applied everywhere that may take applications, but nobody is hiring. With food prices going up, even milk is more costly. It’s been really tough. They are all dedicated people and we’re perhaps not utilized to being out of a task. My health benefits are expiring. I require a job and I need it now.’
Ronnie Martinez is a security that is former at the Atlantic Club. He said: ‘It’s been tough feeding my family. I am hoping We get employed here. I’ve a good work record.’
As the casino initially advertised 50 employment over the two-day fair, Pohlman said it would try to incorporate 100 more, and this week’s unsuccessful candidates will be considered for high-season summer time work. Employment manager Tina Smith said housekeeping and safety divisions were hiring on the spot, while dealers were being evaluated over the two-days, with decisions made later.
The news that is good however, is that there are signs of the recession abating in New Jersey. The state’s unemployment rate ended up being 7.3 % in December that is down from 9.6 % from a year earlier in the day, though there’s still some way to go to reach pre-recession levels of 4.6 per cent. By comparison, the rate was 6.6 percent nationally, 7.1 percent in New York and 6.9 percent in Pennsylvania december.
Gaming Consultants and the Casino Business Too Inbred, Critics Claim
MGM Resorts CEO Jim Murren (shown right here, blue tie-left, at the Las Vegas opening of CityCenter’s Aria Casino last year) says the casino industry is by nature a close-knit one, but some experts say it’s too inbred to control itself (Image: Ethan Miller/Getty Images united states)
Opponents of gambling in the U.S. are becoming critical of the way that some new state jurisdictions are employing consultants who they say have hidden agendas and are often employed by pro-gambling lobbies.
Too Close for Convenience
Cash-strapped states are embracing industry consultants to advise them about whether to legalize gambling so as to bolster their coffers. These companies will often draft legislation, set up commissions and make decisions about which operators might be suitable licensees.
But numerous of these consultants’ industry connections are only a little too close towards the casino company for the comfort of the brigade that is anti-gambling which has declared that personal businesses that are hired to vet operators should not need a ‘cozy relationship’ with the casinos they are meant to be scrutinizing, nor should they be acting as gambling industry regulators.
This week, the issue had been brought to light in the case of law consulting company Shefsky & Froelich (which recently became element of Taft) hired by Massachusetts to assist the state decide whom should build its first casino in Springfield. Shefsky & Froelich recommended MGM Resorts International, for which it had been already working as a registered lobbyist in Illinois.
It’s believed that at the least 16 states across the U.S. depend on private companies as professionals. So, could it is why these states, looking for a fix that is quick and desperate to have their new casinos ready to go as soon as possible, are going towards a questionnaire of semi-privatization of gambling? It is not the real way things are done in states in which gambling is more established, such as Nevada, nj and Delaware, where regulation is famously stringent.
That being said, Massachusetts regulators nevertheless relatively a new comer to the land casino game have actually been, if anything, roundly criticized by industry executives as being way too stringent and nitpicky, rather than the opposite; taking away some credence from anti-gaming experts’ arguments.
Who’s Watching Whom?
Illinois Gaming Board spokesman Gene O’Shea recently measured into the debate, saying: ‘How do you vet your consultants? In cases where a lot of these professionals, at once or another, been employed by for the people that you’re in fee of regulating, at some point, you will have issues with all the purity of the investigation.’
Meanwhile, spokesman for the Florida non-profit company No Casinos, John Sowinski, attacked the practice within the state of Florida, that will be currently trying to expand its casino offerings beyond tribal gaming and racing, saying: ‘The gambling industry could be the one industry that generally seems to get away with this particular conflict of great interest carte blanche.’
Handling director of Spectrum Gaming Michael Pollock who represents one of the biggest gambling consultant firms in the U.S., which recently completed a study for Florida negated the claims, nevertheless, saying, ‘You may not be in this business if you’re ready to entertain conflicts of interest or also an appearance of a conflict.
‘We make it clear from the outset that individuals are not necessarily going to let you know what you want to hear, we are going to let you know what you need to know. And we’ll not entertain an engagement where a customer seeks an outcome that is particular’ Pollock added.
MGM CEO Jim Murren says the allegations are considering an outsider’s misconception of the gambling industry, which he states is close-knit:
‘This isn’t a huge industry, and gaming law is extremely specialized,’ he said. ‘ There are only maybe 4 or 5 firms which are experts in gaming law, so we understand them all, so we’ve most likely utilized them.’
It appears that the casino consulting business is somewhat incestuous, but whether that’s simply the nature of the industry or something more sinister, is up for debate according to your views. What exactly is clear, however, is that it’s big business. Spectrum Gaming started life in a New Jersey basement back in 1996 and it has since been known as one of the fastest-growing private organizations in the U.S. Its website declares that: ‘Governments, gaming operators, designers and investors in five continents have retained Spectrum, so we stand ready to serve clients through our offices in Atlantic City, Bangkok, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Macau, Manila and Tokyo.’
Second Philadelphia Casino Applicants Battle It Out in Pennsylvania
Philadelphia’s Sugarhouse Casino might have some competition if state regulators decide to grant a city that is second license (Image: G. WIDMAN FOR VISIT PHILADELPHIA™)
Five casinos are arguing that they are the right fit for Philadelphia. One casino is stating that the city doesn’t need another gambling hall at all. And nevertheless others say they wish there isn’t any casino gambling in the city to begin with.
State Your Situation
Those were the arguments heard at a Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board meeting in Harrisburg week that is last as five applicants were allowed fifteen minutes each to make their pitch to start an extra casino in Philadelphia. They were joined by the SugarHouse Casino, which opposes a second casino joining their operation which includes currently been active into the city, as well as a neighborhood group that doesn’t want a new casino in their backyard.
The five casinos that have been proposed would vary in size and location. Market8 would be a compact project taking up just two acres in Center City. a 2nd choice for Center City would be the Provence on North wide Street. Additionally three South Philadelphia proposals: a large, sprawling complex known as Casino Revolution is one, while Hollywood Casino Philadelphia and Live! Hotel & Casino are additionally proposing projects in the exact same area.
The legislative Budget and Finance Committee is studying ‘the current condition and future viability of gaming’ in Pennsylvania at the moment. In theory, that study could recommend eliminating the present mandate in state gaming law that says there ‘shall be’ two casinos in Philadelphia.
Nevertheless, lawyers for SugarHouse stated that the state should nevertheless wait to be sure before thinking about granting a license that is second.
‘ What I ask you to accomplish is, remain your hand,’ said SugarHouse attorney John Donnelly. ‘I ask you to attend, at the bare bones, until the legislature completes its study.’
Financing a issue that is major
Of the five candidates, three made closing arguments at the meeting (reside! Philadelphia and Greenwood Gaming declined to do so). Those arguments mainly came as being a rebuttal to SugarHouse’s claims that added competition would harm their business and that there weren’t enough gamblers to guide a casino that is second. But some casinos also had time and energy to tout just what made their specific proposals unique.
‘The fact we are the most experienced developer and operator of casinos, the fact that we know this market, the fact that we have a national database that will immediately populate our gaming base here,’ said Karen Bailey of Pennsylvania Gaming Ventures, rattling off the reasons why she felt their Hollywood Casino was the best deal for the state that we have the certainty of our financing, the fact.
Issues of financing are critical to state officials. In 2010, Pennsylvania took a license for a casino that is second the city away from Foxwoods since they failed to secure the money to build their facility. Now, casinos have been emphasizing the security of their very own financing to the point where most industry experts do not think it’ll be an issue regardless of who is ultimately selected.
That assumes that someone shall be chosen whenever the board makes its decision. It is possible for the seven-member board to choose none of the casino deals, as a project must be approved by all four legislative appointees as well as least one of many governor’s appointees in an effort to receive the license.
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