by William Patterson

Created on: February 28, 2009

So you think you'd like to become a professional card dealer? Well, these days you won't have to move to Las Vegas or Atlantic City or even to Biloxi to get a job. You may be surprised to discover that casino gambling is thriving (if not booming) in South Florida, and there are many fine card rooms throughout the South Florida counties of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade. Although lacking in the sheer number of table games found in some of the other more well known gambling meccas, the demand for qualified dealers in South Florida's ever growing gaming industry has grown steadily over the past few years, due to the addition of new casinos, extended gaming hours for existing casinos, and the introduction of new casino games such as Blackjack, Baccarat and Pai-gow and Three-card poker.

At the present time, card dealers are needed in South Florida by one of two gaming entities, the first being those casinos that are operated on Native American lands by one of two native Florida tribes, the Miccosukee and the Seminole. Of these, the sprawling Seminole Hard Rock casino in Hollywood stands as a testament to the popularity of gambling in South Florida, but there are numerous other equally successful establishments in the area, including the soon to be expanded Coconut Creek Casino in Coconut Creek, Florida, which is owned and operated by the Seminole tribe and the popular Dade County casino, Miccosukee Resort and Gaming in Miami.

The second employment possibility for the aspiring Florida card dealer is at one of the card rooms connected with the state operated pari-mutuel properties. The Hollywood Racetrack in Hollywood, Florida is now home to a behemoth 70,000 square foot casino, aptly named the Mardi Gras, and the Pompano Racetrack in Pompano Beach now boasts a glitzy new casino called the Isle of Capri. In addition to these facilities, a host of other card rooms exist at other pari-mutuels in South Florida, including a 60 table poker room at the Palm Beach Kennel Club dog track in West Palm Beach, and a wildly popular poker room at the Dania Jai-alai facility located only a short distance from the beaches in southern Broward County.

Okay, you say, as you turn off the ESPN World Poker Series and settle back on the sofa to practice pitching cards into your hat, how difficult could dealing cards be anyway? After all, your great uncle Howard taught you how to play five card stud when you were ten years old and everyone praised your card handling talents when you sat

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