The newly established CATCH Institute designed to prepare students for casino employment

Chef John Caressimo, Director of the CATCH Institute at Bristol Community College

Today the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) is pleased to announce that it has issued the state’s first Gaming School Certification to Bristol Community College (BCC).  BCC will soon launch a Casino Management program to prepare students for employment at a casino as part of an overall hospitality program that can prepare students for a variety of positions in a gaming establishment.

BCC submitted a Gaming School Certification Form to the MGC Division of Licensing as per 205 CMR 137.00, seeking certification for their newly-established Casino Management program.  The Division of Licensing reviewed the application, deemed it complete, and issued the Commission’s first Gaming School Certification to BCC.

MGC Chairman Steve Crosby said, “Preparing a local workforce to meet the demand of casino hiring is central to maximizing economic opportunity and job creation in the Commonwealth. It is exciting to note this milestone as we strive to achieve the Gaming Law’s intent of establishing a highly-skilled and diverse workforce for the state’s emergent gaming industry.”

“BCC worked collaboratively and constructively with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission throughout the duration of the application process,” said MGC Director of Licensing Paul Connelly. “BCC worked to ensure that all regulatory requirements were met, including hours of instructions, and the inclusion of responsible gaming education, CPR, and a focus on the Massachusetts rules of the game.”

BCC’s new Casino Management program is known as the CATCH Institute, an institution whose intent is to prepare students for positions – depending on a particular student’s concentration – in the following areas:

• Culinary Arts: Prepares students to work in entry level positions in a variety of food service operations in non-food preparation positions;
• Tourism Management: Prepares students for a broad variety of entry level positions in the tourism industry;
• Casino Management: Prepares students for a variety of positions within a full-service casino including the ability to deal two table games;
• Hotel Management: Prepares students for a variety of positions within the hotel, motel, hospitality and cruise-ship industry;

Students who choose the Casino Management program will be required to complete core courses before moving on to specific gaming training courses. An example of these courses includes Introduction to Casino Operations, Casino Loss Prevention, Gaming and Social Policy and Introduction to Casino Games.

The first three semesters of instruction will be conducted at the BCC Fall River Campus. The Casino concentration courses in the fourth semester will be conducted in the new classrooms and casino training lab located in Taunton at the Galleria Mall.