Inside Asian Gaming

Human resources The Center's library carries publications on gaming from many parts of the world. In addition to teaching technical skills, the Center also ad­ dresses issues on the industry s down side. Stress management training is offeredfor students as well as a workshop to identify problem gamblers and deal with them. uation to what Macau faces now," he explains. "They had a lot of immigrants from Central America and they had to train their new im­ migrants' in vocational skills and also in English. You know some came from the Spanish or Por­ tuguese speaking countries, like Mexico and Brazil and they went to the States to start work and that solved a lot of economic problems, but also created some social prob­ lems," Mr. Chan says. "If you look at the figures for At­ lantic City, after they opened their casino market they had a higher divorce rate, a lower percentage of young people enrolling in universi­ ties, and more family problems. These are some things that Macau may come across." The Center is open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., so instructors don't have to work overnight or on shifts, but instead have a regular fixed schedule of 20 hours of teaching a week. "That could be more stable than working at a casino," Mr. Chan points out. But, he admits, the competition is moving in on the Center itself. Casinos are beginning to poach their best instructors for in-house train­ ing teams, sometimes offering them salaries twice as high. Classes emphasise the theoretical as well as the practical 10 Inside Asian Gaming September 2005