THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Last Updated: September 14, 2004, 06:39:03 AM PDT
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Marvin Phillips is spending a lot of time this summer at the Akwesasne Mohawk
Casino, taking in some poker, roulette and live music. Not for pleasure -- for college credit.
The 21-year-old from the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation enters his senior year at Morrisville State College this month as part of a growing movement: College-educated blackjack dealers, casino security experts, restaurant and entertainment operators and gaming man- agers.
As states -- mostly through American Indian tribes -- turn to casinos for gambling revenues, public colleges nationwide are increasingly offering courses and majors on casinos and gambling.
Over the past five years, gaming courses and majors have cropped up at colleges including San Diego State University, joining the pioneering University of Nevada at Las Vegas and Reno, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
In New York's Catskill Mountains, Sullivan County Community College added a casino concentration in its club management degree.
Courses at such schools include the study of gambling laws, operating on sovereign Indian land, and biometrics and "facial recognition" for casino security. Some students learn to be pit bosses, dealers and slot machine repairers.
Class laboratories take on new definitions in these courses that include green felt poker tables and red-and-black roulette wheels. Casino nights -- using play money -- are held on and off campus, often for charity. Field trips to Las Vegas, Atlantic City and the countless Indian-owned casinos in between are part of the course load.
Last Updated: September 14, 2004, 06:39:03 AM PDT
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Marvin Phillips is spending a lot of time this summer at the Akwesasne Mohawk
Casino, taking in some poker, roulette and live music. Not for pleasure -- for college credit.
The 21-year-old from the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation enters his senior year at Morrisville State College this month as part of a growing movement: College-educated blackjack dealers, casino security experts, restaurant and entertainment operators and gaming man- agers.
As states -- mostly through American Indian tribes -- turn to casinos for gambling revenues, public colleges nationwide are increasingly offering courses and majors on casinos and gambling.
Over the past five years, gaming courses and majors have cropped up at colleges including San Diego State University, joining the pioneering University of Nevada at Las Vegas and Reno, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
In New York's Catskill Mountains, Sullivan County Community College added a casino concentration in its club management degree.
Courses at such schools include the study of gambling laws, operating on sovereign Indian land, and biometrics and "facial recognition" for casino security. Some students learn to be pit bosses, dealers and slot machine repairers.
Class laboratories take on new definitions in these courses that include green felt poker tables and red-and-black roulette wheels. Casino nights -- using play money -- are held on and off campus, often for charity. Field trips to Las Vegas, Atlantic City and the countless Indian-owned casinos in between are part of the course load.
