A Look at Table Game Training and Operations in Eastern Europe
by Vic Taucer
November 3, 2008
Olympic Casino's successful road map: consistency in all facets
I just recently completed another trip to Eastern Europe to produce a training program for Olympic
Casino. The training I delivered was a compilation of my casino supervisory
course, Pit Boss 101, along with some surveillance training, coupled with a
standard dose of my customer service training for table games staff, The Dealer
as Entertainer. Olympic has me produce this training at different casino
venues, this year I traveled to Warsaw, Poland and Kiev
in the Ukraine.
In the past, I have produced this program in Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania and
other venues.
My involvement with Olympic
has been one of the joys of my career as a trainer and consultant. I have come
to relish my trips to Eastern Europe with Estonia being one of my favorites. Tallinn is one of the most charming (and undiscovered)
spots in Europe! My involvement with this
company is also pleasurable as the friendship I have with the chairman of this
company, Armin Karu, is one of the closest I have in the industry.
Armin and I met over a decade ago, and have been
good friends since. I was speaking at a gaming trade show (who would have
thought!), Armin was in the audience. We met and I was asked to travel to Estonia to
deliver a weeklong training program at Olympic’s first casino. I have traveled
to Europe for Armin at least 10 times since
and hope to continue in the future. We are speaking of next year in Slovakia or Romania.
Olympic’s growth & success
From a casino operators
viewpoint, especially from a casino trainer, it is easy to see why Olympic has
grown from the one casino I worked with 12 years ago to the giant casino
company I have the pleasure of working with now. Olympic has created a great
basic casino operational model that it simply reproduces in every venue.
Consistency is the key to all modern business success stories, casinos
also!
In
this casino model, it has made sure that the following road map as pertaining
to this consistency is followed:
Consistency in management
and operations
The management and operational style of all
Olympic casino managers and staff is the same whether that manager is in Estonia or the
Ukraine.
Consistency in
design
In all the Olympic casino
venues, the design of the facility and the casino design concepts used are
similar. Close your eyes in the Olympic casino in Warsaw
open your eyes and you could be in the Tallinn
casino.
Consistency in
training
Every casino manager,
surveillance operator and even dealers receive the same training. The training
received, whether it is my training that comes once per year or in-house
training programs produced by Olympic are professionally produced, viable and consistent.
The result knows that your staff is armed with all the training needed for
their job. The result is also interchangeable personnel.
Consistency in
marketing
Olympic has standardized
marketing efforts in their casinos to make an Olympic casino customer
interchangeable in all their casinos. A truly remarkable feat as competition
abounds and in this market the player truly rules! They (the players) know
their value and can really work the system.
Growing your own
No, I
am not talking about that stop I made in Amsterdam.
I am talking about the fact that most managers inside the Olympic groups system
are home grown. This company prides itself on training their existing staff to
be managers. This is not a company that makes an effort to recruit from outside
the Olympic system but instead offers career path managerial growth to its
existing staff. This works in most successful businesses and sports franchises.
It works for Olympic.
As a trainer, I love to see my students succeed
and become leaders. The students I have trained are now running Olympic
casinos, this is what casino educators and college professors live for.
Career Path Opportunity: Starts with Training
How Olympic casinos grow
their own managers is by offering career path opportunity to its entry level
and mid level managerial staff. This career path is in the form of training
programs, certifications, and growth opportunity from promotion. The Olympic
casino employee knows that he or she will receive all the tools necessary to
become a manager if that is the desire.
Besides the training that I deliver to Olympic,
an in-house training program exists for all Olympic managers. Modeled after
MGM’s University
of Oz, (the MGM’s in-house
training program that I am not sure of its status at this time,) this program
offers managerial courses for applicable candidates. Take the required
offerings for a managerial position, complete the course and pass any testing
and the applicant becomes eligible for promotion. A clear and precise path for
promotion and growth.
Casinos vs. clubs
To the American
casino-goer, most European casinos would be an unfamiliar thing. Most casinos
in Europe resemble gaming clubs where the
player is a member of a club that allows gambling. The patron must join to get
admittance and the primary purpose of the visit is gambling, pure and simple.
The American does not view a casino as a club but as a venue that is more
social, membership is not required and gambling is only a portion of the
entertainment mix.
A club is a venue with a
small audience, gamblers, mostly high rollers, and the general public is not
part of the mix. If you are not a player, you will probably not be welcome. The
reason casinos here in the United States have been an overwhelming success is
that we have gotten away from the club scenario and morphed through the years
into casinos, all are welcome, and if you don’t want to gamble, that’s OK,
there is something for all. You don’t have to be in a special club or group,
the public is welcome with the hope that you will become a
player.
While for Europeans, this
concept of casinos being acceptable to the general public has not caught on in
the form that it has here in the United States, this is coming. As
the middle classes in all these nations are becoming more affluent (and they
are) with more disposable income, clubs will diminish, casinos will
flourish.
One of
the big reasons for the success of the Olympic group is the fact that Olympic
casinos are casinos, not clubs! While admittance policies are mandated, you
have to show ID and become a member. This is because of governmental laws
concerning casinos; the operational policies are not clublike but casinolike. Entertainment
and social activity are part of the Olympic casino product; gambling is not the
only concept as it is in many clubs.
I’ve witnessed Olympic
making tremendous strides in many areas. I could go on and on with talk of its
successes and the bright spot it has in the casino future. I am one of its
biggest fans, and I’m proud to be able to help provide assistance and training
to this progressive company.
Vic Taucer
is president of Casino Creations, a Las Vegas-based educational, training and consulting company, which specializes in table game evaluations, customer service training, dealer training and managerial training for table games operations. A former professor of casino management for the University & Community College System of Nevada and a long-time casino manager at many resorts, Taucer can be reached at (702) 595-7800 or vic@casinocreations.com
Did you enjoy this article? Click here to subscribe to the magazine.
