Black Oak Casino News Source: http://www.uniondemocrat.com
Published: June 22, 2006
Card dealer James Davis works a table at Black Oak Casino.
Benjamin Hicks/Copyright 2006, The Union Democrat
By ALISHA WYMAN
Mary Ingles has always been good with numbers.
Math was a pivotal component of her former job as a bookkeeper.
But her skill took a new spin after she became a card dealer at Black Oak Casino — where she must rapidly compute the cards in her own hand and those of players.
"This is sort of a different scene, but it's still numbers," she said.
It allows more interaction with the public than did her previous desk job, pays more at the end of the year and has provided her a new employment opportunity nearby, since she moved to Sonora more than a year ago, she said.
Ingles is one of many who make their living at the Tuolumne casino.
Through the casino's thick gold-colored and tinted front doors lies a village of entertainment fueled by a staff of about 760.
The broad, three-story building hints at the casino's employing power: Black Oak is the second largest private employer in Tuolumne County, trailing only Sonora Regional Medical Center.
Black Oak's staff constitutes a significant chunk of the new jobs created in the county since 2000.
About 95 percent of its workers are residents of Tuolumne or Calaveras counties.
Of those, only a handful are members of the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk, who receive preference for any job opening.
The casino has a binder of more than 100 job titles. They range from cocktail waitress to maintenance worker, and from accounting to information technology.
The people who hold them vary widely in age, culture and socioeconomic status, casino spokesman Al O'Brien said.
"There's something for everyone there," he said.
Employees often have the opportunity for promotion through the ranks, he said.
"That's something this county hasn't offered a lot of people that are part of the labor force," O'Brien said.
All have the same health, vision and dental benefits as the general manager, Ron Patel, which is a major advantage for Ingles.
Though Ingles makes minimum wage, the tips and overtime she receives can bump her yearly salary to between $30,000 and $50,000.
"We rely on our tips," Ingles said. "That's one of the reasons we have this job. I don't think people realize that."
Her food bills are low because the casino provides her one meal a day during her work week.
In all, the casino's payroll is about $19 million, excluding benefits.
Much of that money gets pumped back into the county, where most employees buy groceries, use services and own or rent homes, O'Brien said.
For Greg Sawyer, 30, taking a maintenance position at the casino brought a raise of roughly $20,000 a year — and the end to a more than 50-mile commute to Modesto.
The Jamestown resident formerly worked in the heating and air conditioning business. He still monitors those systems at Black Oak — overseeing 53 air conditioners — but the casino has allowed him to expand his expertise to other fields, such as electrical work and remodeling.
"I get to put my hands on a little bit of everything," Sawyer said. "It's a lot of responsibility."
His old job required him to travel up and down Interstate 5 or Highway 99 to do his work. Now, the devices he maintains are all contained within the 164,000-square-foot casino.
Keeping youth
The casino is one of few businesses that offers young workers an incentive to stay in the county, and one more option for people who might not otherwise be able to get a job, said Toni Juhl, the registrar at Sonora High School.
This year so far, she has processed about 75 transcripts for Sonora High alumni of all ages needing proof of graduation to take a job at Black Oak. That's by far the most of any employer in the county, Juhl said.
"It keeps me busy," she said.
The lure of employment at Black Oak is motivation for some students to finish school, since the casino requires a diploma, Juhl said.
"A lot of kids figure: ‘Well, I'm 18. I'm going to drop out of school. I'll just go work up there — decent wages, decent benefits,' " she said. "Well, no you're not."
That's news school administrators recently gave to a student they found skipping school.
Those who go on to work at Black Oak have a wide spectrum of available jobs that could turn into careers, Juhl said. People who may have lost their jobs at the lumber mill or have retired but want to keep working also have a place to turn.
"There is an option in this county where there wasn't before," she said.
The controversial reputation that gambling has doesn't eclipse the benefits to casino employees, who need the employment to survive.
"I would imagine you could find 100 people to tell you the negative aspect. I just like to see these people going to work," Juhl said. "I think it's a shame that people need to leave the county to find work. That is a dirty shame."
Michelle Price, 23, is one who has lived in Tuolumne County most of her life and likes it here.
Having a job at Black Oak means she can stay.
"They do take care of us," she said.
A former lingerie model, Price took a job as a cocktail waitress at Black Oak about a year ago.
She didn't have any experience when she started, but the other servers taught her the tricks of the trade.
Wearing a shimmering royal blue and black shirt with chiffon sleeves, a black choker and a black skirt, Price held a tray decked with drinks one morning earlier this spring. She maneuvered between the maze of slot machines, asking players if they needed anything.
Price enjoys the job, she said. It's a chance to meet new people, and during her day shifts the casino is relatively quiet — except for the runs and cadences of the slot machines.
Beyond the casino walls
The casino's impact on the employment landscape in the county reaches beyond its own walls.
"When a large employer comes into a county, there is also a ripple effect," said Bob Martin, executive director of Mother Lode Job Training, the primary partner for Job Connection Tuolumne — a resource center for job seekers and employers.
Large businesses often use the services of smaller businesses, which could increase their revenue, he said.
The smaller businesses may need to boost their work forces to support the extra demand.
Black Oak Casino purchases flowers from local florists for its restaurants, uses printing services, buys landscape materials, sells local wines and microbrews, and hires musicians — all in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties, O'Brien said.
"Every facet of this business touches the local economy," he said.
Mary Finigian, one-stop manager for Job Connection Tuolumne, said she has noticed that since the casino opened, job hunters are less likely to return after picking up applications. Before, people would often come back three or four times during their job search.
The casino also readily hires senior citizens who may not have retirement savings or the Social Security benefits to support themselves.
For its younger employees, jobs at the casino can provide experience in a myriad of areas, such as math, dealing with money, customer service and food service, Martin said.
"Skills learned at a professional business like that would be transferable to other occupations," he said.
Expansion plans
Local economic impact could increase as the tribe carries out its expansion plans to create a destination resort in the next five years.
Plans include a new parking structure, sewer treatment plant, golf course, hotel, spa and other residential and commercial development.
Once in place, they have the potential to push employee numbers beyond 1,000.
While the plans are still tentative, casino leaders foresee an even more far-reaching effect on the county's working population and economy.
"It's going to be significant for the tribe and the community," O'Brien said.
Employees who gamble
Some employees of casinos end up putting their paychecks back into the activity that pays them.
For someone with a gambling problem, constant exposure to their vice could only make it worse, said Guy Holmes, a California certified gambling counselor who works at Maynord's Recovery Center near Tuolumne.
Casino employees with a predisposition to addiction are more likely to have a problem than those who work elsewhere, he said.
"If you're around it and you're of that nature, it's going to affect you," Holmes said.
The casino offers free counseling as part of its benefits package. Counseling serves a wide range of needs, including areas such as grief, family, financial and compulsive gambling.
Black Oak also has strict rules about gambling. No workers are allowed to play at the tables, and employees can approach the machines only eight hours before or after their shift.
"It would be extremely difficult to be addicted to gaming if you're working here," O'Brien said.
If an employee was to become a compulsive gambler, it's likely he or she would gamble elsewhere, he said. In that case, the casino would have little idea that the person had a problem unless the employee asked for help, he said.
"Obviously it's a moral issue, and we can't regulate people's moral values," O'Brien said.
Holmes agreed it's not the casino's responsibility to weed out any employee who may be prone to develop an addiction and try to stop them.
"It's difficult for any employer to screen out every possible problem," he said. "It's a hidden addiction. They're not going to come in there with money on their breath."
For life
For good or for bad, gambling is the source of hundreds of peoples' livelihoods at Black Oak.
One recent morning, Ingles stood waiting for customers at one of the floor's 24 gaming tables, her palms flat on the green felt in front of two decks of cards, each splayed into a curved line.
When her table fills up, she enjoys visiting with the guests and getting to know the regulars.
During an in-house training school, Ingles learned all the policies and procedures she must follow as a dealer.
There is a certain way she must lay the cards, pick them up and check the chips as she deals cards for the games the casino offers — such as blackjack, four card and let it ride.
Dealers strive to make the fewest mistakes possible in adding the hands, while doing it almost instantaneously.
"It's very taxing to be correct and make sure everything is right," she said. "It's almost like you have to be a robot."
But she has no plans to change her career.
"I'm what you call a lifer," she said.
Contact Alisha Wyman at awyman@uniondemocrat.com or 588-4529.
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