Spot check to see if you're on a roll

THE raw dice for London casinos are manufactured in one of two factories in Las Vegas. These two firms supply the entire stock of the world's professional gaming dice.

The dice arrive by security shipment at a specialist supplier/ manufacturer such as John Huxley in London, where the head of printing and security will make a note of any serial numbers and then place them under lock and key.

The production technician will prepare the dice by embossing logos and then preparing them in packs of five

Name: Tony Flourentzou Age: 33 Job: Production/security technician at John Huxley Ltd Training: An in-house apprenticeship.

Working at John Huxley: 16 years. "I print the chips and the dice. I am also responsible for their security. I keep a log of how many items we have sent to the casinos. The dice themselves are very hard to imitate.

"We're not allowed to sell any blank chips or cards. Any items that are handled by the public need to be protected by security measures. I have to know what the casinos want. It's part of my responsibility to make sure that no strange orders get through. Sometimes they make mistakes."

Essential skills: "Honesty. You can't employ someone with a criminal record. A printing background and knowledge of computers can also help."

The sales manager will then take them in person and deliver them by hand to the manager of the casino

Name: Daniel Lindsay Age: 27 Job: Corporate development manager at John Huxley Ltd Training: Casino operations experience, knowledge of legislation.

Working at John Huxley: five years.

"I spend a lot of the time talking to customers on the phone. The industry is very close-knit so it's important to keep on top of what's going on. If a casino needs dice, I'll take them by hand straight to the director.

Entertaining is an important part of the job: out of the past 10 meetings I've had, only two were in an office. No one here is encouraged to gamble."

Essential skills: "Knowing how casinos operate. Good sales technique."

The director will give the new dice to the casino manager who will store them in a secure area

Name: Brian Kierans Age: 50 Job: Casino/pit manager at a Ladbroke casino in London.

Training: "You start as a dealer on roulette with a blue licence and after about 10 years you graduate to a grey licence, meaning that you can be a manager."

Working for Ladbroke casinos: 27 years. "I come in at about 11.30am and break the security seals on the tables. I also go into the secure area and break the seals on the dice and the cards and record the serial numbers for each pack.

After each day's gaming we destroy that session's cards and dice - you don't want them reappearing anywhere. Occasionally you hear about a cheat coming into town. You can usually spot them from the amount of eye contact they give you. If they are really blatant, we call the police. It is very difficult when the case goes to court. People think we just don't like winners: it's hard to convince juries the person has been cheating."

Essential skills: "Taking care of staff and customers. A consummate knowledge of the game is essential."

The casino manager will select at random a five pack of dice for use at each of the craps tables and then check the dice, which will then be given to the croupier

Name: Giuseppe Borrelli Age: 42 Job: Croupier (also called a "boxman") at a Ladbroke casino.

Training: New recruits begin with roulette and blackjack. If the dealers are good enough, they train to work with dice after a year or two. To learn craps, intensive training takes place over two months.

Working for Ladbroke casinos: "The tables start to get really busy at about five. Craps is the hardest game to deal because there are so many ways to play and there is much more customer participation; they get to throw the dice. The most I've ever seen anyone win at craps is about 50,000 in one sitting. They lose as well though - I've seen customers lose as much as 80,000."

Essential for the job: "A cool head, manual dexterity. Sometimes you have as many as 16 people around the table at once. Dice players are very superstitious, the most difficult and cantankerous people you'll ever meet."

At the end of a day's play, the dice are destroyed or rendered useless by having holes punched in them to be converted into novelty items such as key rings

The Dice Men

* London casino games using dice: Craps * Appearance: Dice are translucent to avoid hidden magnets and weights and are available in red/orange/blue/green. Various security measures are employed in their manufacture including hidden letters stamped internally behind the spots, rings around the spots, very precise measurements to within 1/10,000th of an inch and serial numbers.

* Cheats hoping to prosper in the UK beware; since the Gaming Act of 1968, this country has the most regulated industry in the world. Craps cheating is especially hard with only three tables in London, all extremely well supervised.

* For more information on career opportunities visit www.british- casinos.co.uk

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Copyright 2001
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.