Pit Bosses Gone...So What?

Last week Atlantic City lifted regulations that forced casinos to have a pit boss on duty to keep an eye on gaming tables. This doesn’t mean the positions have to be eliminated, but with revenues decreasing every month for 3 years or so this will be a likely place to cut costs.

Losing pit bosses could save casinos millions according to reports. While the new regulations no longer require casino pit bosses, they also do not limit the casinos, which could still opt to employ pit bosses, or perhaps other titled floor positions.

Several local casino spokespeople, speaking to Atlantic City’s daily newspaper, said the casinos will have to study their options before making personnel changes.

While this isn’t a bad thing in general, this probably isn’t a good thing for Atlantic City. Pit bosses are nice to have, but there is so much overlap in their position that the allowance for a staff reduction probably wouldn’t harm most casinos in the world.

However, Atlantic City has a problem that most casino markets don’t have – homeless, panhandlers and criminals. Since there are so many pit bosses on duty at once, they have the ability to keep an eye on the floor to keep the tables a little safer than the rest of the casino. Even if they’re not doing the enforcing they can call someone that will. With the absence of the extra eyes gone from the casinos in Atlantic City, I can see crime only getting worse which is unthinkable.

So, while removing a pit boss isn’t necessarily a big deal in many casino markets, I think this would be horrible for Atlantic City unless the casinos decide to do something to allow their customers to feel safe. Like most things in Atlantic City, the casinos will not do the smart thing so expect the cost cuttings to begin soon.