Casino school recruits croupiers from among unemployed

By Constantinos Psillides

A COMPANY that specialises in the training of casino dealers or ‘croupiers’ is advertising its courses in Cyprus, even though the government has not yet legalised gambling or issued the first casino licence.

Cerus Casino Academy (CCA) Cyprus, a member of the Cerus group based in Manchester, England, is advertising its training courses via Facebook sponsored ads.

The company urges interested parties to attend a 10-week seminar in Manchester on casino dealing, noting in the ad that this could be an answer to rising unemployment and financial uncertainty. The company boasts a 100% employment record claiming that people who attend the course would have an advantage when casinos start operating in Cyprus.

Vrachimis Mpoulos, a representative of the Cyprus branch of CCA, told the Cyprus Mail that although the company just started advertising, people have already shown interest in taking the training course. “Three people have so far joined our programme. We believe that this is the right moment for those Cypriots who want to gain experience in the jobs that will follow”, Mpoulos said, adding that the company has been operating for 11 years and has offices in five EU countries.

The academy representative expects that granting casino licences will result in hundreds of jobs, including dealers, inspectors, pit-bosses and managers.

A high ranking police source told the Cyprus Mail that at a first glance there is nothing illegal in advertising the training courses.

“If the training takes place in England and not in Cyprus, we can’t do anything about it. It’s like any other educational institute. They are free to advertise as long as they don’t proceed with training casino dealers in Cyprus. Apart from that, they are free to do what they want”, the police official said, adding that the police is ready to investigate if they receive any complaints regarding the activity of the academy.