Electronic versions of games in Quebec’s casinos are starting to worry dealers. It must be said that things aren’t going well for Quebec’s casinos in particular the Mont Tremblant casino which has gone part time because of a drop in its gross income from gaming. Now keno and roulette are available to players in the Montreal casino. But electronic games won’t just be limited to these two table games, Ultimate Texas hold’em and Blackjack Switch could be following closely except that the dealers’ grumbling has made the management think and postpone this. Some sources claim that it is waiting for the present collective agreement to run out.Electronic games benefit the Quebec land based casinos because they don’t need dealers and everything is automatic. Which is the same as saying that the casino makes more money because dealers are no longer necessary ( or at least with a lesser qualification and less well paid) and so the casino saves money on salaries. Moreover, these new games are sought after by the clientele which is always looking for new things and innovation. An electronic table can seat 14 players compared to only 7 at a gaming table with a real dealer. Concerning jobs, these electronic games are sending shivers down the spines of the dealers’ trade unions who are not impressed with this initiative since at some point jobs will be in danger.
The Quebec casinos are in the middle of restructuring since part of the Mont Tremblant casino employees are being transferred to the Lac Leamy casino. In fact, as we already outlined, the Mont Tremblant casino is in a bad situation economically and 35 employees are to be transferred to the Lac Leamy casino so they won’t have to be made redundant. The Lac Leamy casino’s results are sluggish compared to last year thanks to rigorous management.
The Quebec land based casinos’ dealers are waiting to see how the negotiations will go and hope that the new electronic tables will not put the profession of dealer in danger. Real casinos are having to cope with the economic downturn as well as the emergence of online casinos including several famous casinos such as Celtic casino offering live dealers for roulette, baccarat and blackjack.
