The original 2010 report
Original reporting follows. Offers, event dates, product details and opinions are historical. Old outbound links are shown as text.
Marcia Fuqua, a 48 year old ex-teacher found work as a blackjack dealer, after she was laid off by the school in DC where she worked as a physical education and health teacher.
Fuqua lost her job in the fall along with several others from the school and soon became yet another unemployment statistic, until she decided to get a job that would give her the upper hand.
The ex-teacher quit looking to schools and the educational field for employment and turned instead to one of the most promising industries today. The gaming industry has shown a strong growth rate despite the economic crisis and Fuqua decided to find a job in this sector.
She then took up training for a course of two months to become a blackjack dealer, which appears to have paid off when she landed a job as a blackjack and poker dealer at the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races.
Fuqua claims to have always been fascinated with blackjack dealers and believes that this is a great job situation. Fuqua initially had a bit of trouble placing the chips properly in the table as it required nimble fingers, but soon discovered that being a blackjack dealer was possible once she got the hang of it. She claimed her problem was that she was trying too hard.
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Read a little deeper
Training, auditions and employment are different steps
Dealer-training reports show how casinos and colleges prepared people for table-game work. Keep the course, audition and employment offer distinct. Tuition figures, timetables and recruitment targets belong to the original story and do not describe a course or vacancy currently open for applications.
- Training
- Identify the games, course length and fees actually reported.
- Selection
- Look for auditions or other steps between training and hiring.
- Employment
- Distinguish an individual outcome from an employer’s recruitment plans.
Does completing a course always guarantee a casino job?
The report must say what was offered. Training, auditions and hiring are separate steps; do not turn a historical recruitment target into a general employment promise.
More from this era
Archive presentation refreshed 26 October 2026. The original report and publication date are retained; this is not a new offer, event listing or product review.