Croupiers to be retrained
In the best-case scenario, in 2010 “Azov City” gaming zone will be a big construction site, believes Nickolay Oganezov from Rostov-on-Don, a member of the Gambling Expert Council of the State Duma. Meanwhile casino employees have less than a year to decide on their future. Not all Moscow dealers and croupiers are generally ready to move to gaming zones.
Most croupiers believing their qualification to be high think that the best way of advancing their careers is working in foreign casinos. 40% of the croupiers we interviewed are determined to stay within their occupation and to look for work abroad. Just the same rate, 40% of the interviewed specialists say that they are likely to change their occupation. They do not believe that they can find employment abroad. And besides, this part of the interviewed is confident that salaries in Russian gaming zones will be anyway less than their Moscow salaries, therefore they are not worth the trouble. In their opinion, “casinos need not only employees but also gamblers. What`s the point of flying to Rostov or to Altay for a roulette fan if he can as well have a flight to Monaco?”
A really small percentage of the interviewed are ready to work in Moscow`s underground casinos. First of all, they are sure the latter will appear; secondly, they hope that salaries there will be even higher than in legal facilities: there will be significant bonuses for the risk. They know nothing on the liability for these actions yet.
And finally just 7% of the interviewed are ready to wait for the new gaming zones to open, and they will go to work there once the zones start operating. They are planning to go through the hard times working in poker clubs but they still hope that the existing casinos will not be closed until the gaming zones are launched