Oct 20, 2009 11:00 pm US/Eastern
Applicants Bet On Job At Philadelphia Park Casino
BENSALEM, Pa. (CBS 3) ―
It might be one of the few sure bets in this economy: if you need a job, try a casino in Pennsylvania. Several have yet to open – including both Philadelphia venues – and many others are still expanding their slots offerings.
Beyond that, the prospect of adding table games – part of this month's budget deal in Harrisburg – could mean thousands more jobs.
At Philadelphia Park in Bensalem, Bucks County, hundreds of people lined up Tuesday at a job fair for 200 openings. The racetrack's new casino, Parx, is scheduled to open in December and that means more employees are needed.
"I think in this economy, the fact that we have the opportunity to offer 200 jobs, we're lucky, and we're happy to be offering them," said Darlene Monzo, Vice President of marketing at Philadelphia Park. "The range of jobs is everything from marketing to operations to food and beverage."
Applicants waited in line for up to two hours just to get in the door. If they made it through a preliminary interview, they met executives like Monzo, who asked some standard, but also some bizarre questions.
"If you could see yourself as a fruit, what would it be and why?" one executive asked of three candidates.
Job candidates also had to spontaneously show executives their dance moves.
"We're in the entertainment business. We need to have top candidates," Monzo said. "You saw for yourself, they were outgoing, they were excited, they were motivated."
"They pay a decent wage and then benefits. It's all about benefits right now," said Dominic Dennis, who lives in nearby Bristol and has been laid off since March. Dennis is hoping for a job as a technician.
There are just 200 jobs open now, but Monzo says the final approval of table games in Harrisburg means 1,000 more positions at Parx.
Officials estimate table games, like blackjack and roulette, could create as many as 10,000 jobs across Pennsylvania, as many as 4,500 of which could be at the four casinos in the Philadelphia region. State lawmakers agreed to legalize table games this month as part of a deal to end Pennsylvania's budget standoff. Lawmakers are still split over how heavily to tax the games.
Each table requires as many as 6 full-time staff members to keep them running around the clock.
Table games are also coming to Delaware as early as next spring. The legislature agreed to authorize table games in the First State as part of a plan that legalized sports betting earlier this year. Like Pennsylvania, Delaware needs revenue from expanded gambling to fill a nearly $1 billion budget shortfall.
In Delaware, officials say table games could create as many as 800 jobs statewide: 250 each at three casinos, and about 50 state jobs to oversee the new games.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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