Carnival City casino dealers are Sun International’s best

Two of Carnival City’s casino dealers, Zainub Asvat and Sebesho Mokwena, in conjunction with their coach Lifomo Matsoele, have taken the throne as the best dealer and inspector team in Sun International’s inaugural Team Dealer Championships.

They dominated almost every challenge in the national tournament, which played out at Sun City on December 5 and 6.

“The dealer competition proved to be a tremendous spirit and confidence building initiative, encouraging dealers to take pride in their work and continually raise the bar,” said Annemie Turk, Carnival City’s general manager.

“Being a dealer is a very tough but exhilarating job to do.

“Through the competition, dealers were able to measure their own performance against other excellent dealers from across the country, including those from some of South Africa’s biggest and busiest casinos.

“We are immensely proud of our star performers, who held Carnival City’s flag high throughout the tournament and earned the right to be called Sun International’s top dealer team for 2016.”

The objectives of the Team Dealer Championships, which will be held annually, are to foster teamwork and collaboration; recognise and encourage professionalism; entrench a customer orientated culture; enhance skills and capacity in a fun way; and ultimately acknowledge Sun International’s top performers.

The 2016 competition began with regional competitions at each of Sun International’s 12 South African casinos.

Dealers enthusiastically underwent coaching with their respective inspectors, before pitting their skills against their colleagues in the unit level competitions.

They had to deal American Roulette and Blackjack – and were evaluated against a range of criteria.

The team scoring the highest by a panel of judges at each casino, was selected to go through to the finals.

The judges at the national event included senior casino managers from across the Group, all with many years of experience in the business.

Aside from their dealing skills and their knowledge of game rules, they were also measured on such aspects as how well they’re groomed, their personality, the way they speak and interact with their audience and each other; and whether their hands were kept clean.

“With poise, professionalism and grace, our dealers have performed under quite intense scrutiny,” said Tristan Kaatze, Sun International’s director of casinos.

“After watching the Team Dealer Championships unfold, I can certainly attest that we have truly capable dealers and remarkable talent, within the Sun International group.

“Throughout each phase of the competition, they’ve been reminded of what it takes to be a good dealer, learnt new tricks of the trade and been able to measure themselves, against Sun International’s values and high standards.”