Casino Dealers School

The Boardwalk and Marina Casino Dealer School of Atlantic City (known as Casino Dealers School, or simply CDS) was a private casino school in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
CDS was founded by Arnold Hasson and Steven Edelblum. The school began its operations in 1986 after a three year curriculum review and licensing process with the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, teaching all casino table games, with an emphasis on quality customer service in the courses and programs containing either: Craps, Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat, Poker, Pai Gow, Pai Gow Poker, etc.
CDS was an accredited member of the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology (ACCSCT) and was the first private gaming school in New Jersey to become accredited. The school was also certified by the United States Department of Education in 1989, and became eligible to offer Title IV Financial aid in the form of student loans and Pell Grants.
The school's original location, at 2709 Atlantic Ave. was a store front and eventually moved into an "Mock Casino" training space, at the former CSI building, which was located at 1923 Bacharach Blvd. in Atlantic City.
CDS also became the first gaming school to become licensed by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission to operate a branch of its school in a casino hotel, the now defunct Atlantis Casino.
In the early 1980s, the third level of the casino floor of Elsinore's Atlantis Casino Hotel was redesigned to cater to high rollers. It was an effort that failed, but as a result, the luxurious casino, under Edelblum's leadership, became the site of a branch of Casino Dealers School. Consequently, the school was allowed to run table game classes, Monday through Thursday, using the casino's plush gaming tables, on the third floor of the Atlantis Casino Hotel, to teach unemployed, underemployed and welfare recipients to become casino dealers.
In 1990 the school added, what was then the former Jules men's clothing store, on Atlantic Ave., as a branch facility. In 1991 after Edelblum left the company, William (Bill) Petillo took over as Director and the school moved both locations from its two storefronts on Atlantic Avenue to the Career and Education Complex building, formally the CSI building, adjacent to the Atlantic City Convention Center, at 1923 Bacharach Boulevard.
The school added Computer and Office Technology training to its syllabus in 1995, and closed its doors in July 2001.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu