Casino news source: Centre Daily - http://www.centredaily.com
Thousands bet on casino jobs
State's new slots industry sees applicants from all walks of life
By Bob Laylo - The (Allentown) Morning Call
ALLENTOWN -- Pat DiNapoli is a part-time English teacher at Luzerne County Community College who just wants something interesting to do a few days a week.
Bob Miezejewski has been laid off twice in recent years and wants job security. Marion E. Walker fled Hurricane Katrina in hopes of rebuilding her life in northeastern Pennsylvania.
They are not alone.
DiNapoli, Miezejewski and Walker are among the hundreds who have applied, at a downtown Scranton employment center, for jobs at the Mount Airy Resort & Casino, Mount Airy spokesman Pete Peterson said.
"We have already received an overwhelming response from area residents ... ," said Dr. Lisa DeNaples, daughter of the owner, Louis DeNaples.
Though lines have not formed at the job center -- people can also apply online and through jobs centers -- the response has been steady and good, officials said.
Officials say the Paradise Township casino and resort will employ as many as 1,000 in jobs as diverse as kitchen staff, accountants and human resources personnel.
Peterson said some jobs will be filled in the next several weeks, while others will be filled closer to the resort's planned fall opening.
He said salaries have not been set yet.
Walker, of Mountaintop, Luzerne County, said she hopes her more than two decades in gaming will help her land a job working with slot machines. A Scranton native, she said she started working with Atlantic City, N.J., casinos in 1980, landing her first job as a slots technician.
She eventually advanced to slots shift manager, then left Atlantic City to work in the marketing department of the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut, where she issued reward cards people use to accumulate points for comps. Then she worked in Louisiana for Harrah's, where she was a supervisor for slots technicians at least until late August 2005.
"Katrina kicked my butt out," Walker said.
So Walker, who still has family in Dunmore, Lackawanna County, returned to northeastern Pennsylvania.
Like the resort, which fell on hard times until it was bought in 2004 by DeNaples with plans to turn it into a hotel and casino, Walker hopes to rebound.
Walker said she can make a difference to the casino. She said all casinos have the same slot machines.
"People will go to a place where they like the people," she said. "What sets a place apart is the people."
DiNapoli, of Clarks Summit, Lackawanna County, hopes his experience helps set him apart. He is a former vice president of financial company Standard & Poor's and also was a vice president of Mergent Co., which publishes financial information.
DiNapoli said he'd like to work a few days a week in sales and marketing.
"It should be a good industry, and things should go along well," he said.
Miezejewski, who had two interviews at the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs in Plains Township, Luzerne County, just wants some job security.
He worked for a Lackawanna company that manufactured travelers checks and lottery tickets, but it closed in 2002. Then he worked for another Lackawanna County company that made labels, but that closed in 2005. Now he's working with a company that makes compact discs and DVDs, but he's worried about the future.
He said a security job at the casino would give him job security. |
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