Clubs out of luck in search for dealers

Sunday, July 16, 2000 | 4:14 a.m.

The phone calls come in several times a day to Joel Lauer's school for casino dealers. Downtown joints need craps dealers, blackjack dealers, newly trained, to run the table games at the Strip's less-fortunate stepsister.

"If it's a really bad situation they say, 'Send someone right now,' " Lauer said.

Casino executives say nationwide record low unemployment levels have made it more difficult to find qualified front-line workers and managers.

Combined with the Las Vegas megaresort construction and the national spread of casino gambling, there's a constant demand for dealers, housekeepers, computer experts and managers at properties throughout the country.

Downtown's El Cortez is known as a break-in house, the sort of place where dealers go to complete what serves as an apprenticeship before moving on to the big-tip gambling halls of the Strip.

While hourly wages generally are similar from Fremont Street to the Strip - about $5.15 - it's the tips that lure hungry rookies to Las Vegas Boulevard.

Rather than earning $35 a day at Fremont Street casinos, Strip dealers earn $100 to $200 nightly in tokes.

Billy Cheung's been working at the El Cortez for 27 years, and as a pit boss he's regularly on the phone with local dealer schools in search of help.

In the old days, new dealers spent 18 to 24 months learning their trade at Jackie Gaughan's hotel, Cheung recalled, but now they're gone within four months. The Strip needs them.

Then there's the allure of casinos in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and 21 other states that steal Las Vegas workers.

The result: casino floors that are dotted with relatively underskilled dealers and managers who require intensive on-the-job training to prevent customer frustration and con-man hustles.

"The quality is not as high as before," Cheung said.