Any reputable gaming establishment needs a casino general manager to help ensure that the games offered are fair and that those who play them do so fairly. It is an attractive occupation, one made more so by the specific duties and rewards that accrue to the position, such as are discussed below.
Job Duties
Any management job will be involved in the oversight of people who do specific tasks. Thus, a casino’s general manager will ensure that such things as scheduling and payroll are made clear and consistent, that the money coming into the casino exceeds what is going out of the casino and that customers are satisfied with how they are treated by the facility and the staff. Familiarity with principles of accounting and human resources is therefore advisable. A marketing or a hospitality degree will also be helpful, as managers in all areas are expected to talk up their businesses and make them more attractive to new and continuing customers.
Managers also need to have some familiarity with all of the jobs done by those whom they employ. This way they are able to step in as needed to make sure that what needs doing gets done, as Patricia Tate discusses for the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. For those in casinos, this includes being able to operate various table games such as blackjack, roulette and craps, as well as handling security issues both on the gaming floor and in the back of the casino where large sums of money are handled. The last can involve both detaining people and dealing with law enforcement; a casino manager has to be ready for such things. Managers may also be called in to handle the money involved in gambling directly, particularly when the sums are large. The job may also involve the occasional bit of repair to gaming equipment such as slot machines; they break, and they may break when the usual repairperson cannot attend to them, yet they must be made to function. It is no surprise, then, that managers must not only maintain the licensing required of all casino workers, but also must continually train and retrain themselves. They have much to do, and all of it must be done well.
Rewards
One thing that a casino general manager does is earn a number of rewards. It is partly for that reason the American Gaming Association reports high levels of job satisfaction among gaming workers and managers. Casino work has social cachet, and those in higher levels of casino operations have the opportunity to associate with luminaries. Pleasing them may take some doing, but it can also be personally lucrative. Aside from the potential for outside and intangible benefits, the Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that pay for gaming management can approach $100,000 annually.
With the projected growth in the gaming industry and the increasing number of places that allow casino gambling, there will be more call for people to oversee casino operations, as the American Gaming Association makes clear. The job outlook for casino management is growing, giving more people the opportunity to take on the roll of casino general manager.