Today the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) is pleased to announce that it has issued a Gaming School Certification to Holyoke Community College (HCC) and Springfield Technical Community College (STCC).  HCC and STCC will soon launch a Casino Management program to prepare students for employment at a casino as part of an overall workforce training program that can prepare students for a variety of positions in a gaming establishment.

HCC and STCC are launching this casino workforce training program as part of their Training and Workforce Options collaborative and the Massachusetts Casino Career Training Institute. The gaming school will operate on the ninth floor of 95 State Street in Springfield, MA. Classes will begin in February 2018.

HCC and STCC submitted a Gaming School Certification Form to the MGC Division of Licensing containing information regarding course offerings, materials, and instruction as per 205 CMR 137.00, seeking certification for their newly-established casino workforce training program.  The Division of Licensing reviewed the application, deemed it complete, and recently issued the state’s second Gaming School Certification.

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.  We applaud the collaborative effort among community colleges that will play an important role in training up a regional workforce to connect local residents with the opportunities and benefits that the gaming industry will provide.”

HCC and STCC will soon begin the enrollment process for prospective students to register for casino table game training.

About the Massachusetts Casino Career Training Institute (MCCTI)

In 2012, the presidents of the state’s 15 community colleges signed a memorandum of understanding with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to work collaboratively to provide training for casino jobs in each of the state’s three defined casino regions: Greater Boston, southeastern Massachusetts, and western Massachusetts. In the western Massachusetts region, MCCTI is operated by Training and Workforce Options (TWO), the workforce development collaboration between Holyoke Community College and Springfield Technical Community College. For more information, go to mccti.org

About MassGaming

The mission of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission is to create a fair, transparent, and participatory process for implementing the expanded gaming law passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor in November, 2011. In creating that process, the Commission will strive to ensure that its decision-making and regulatory systems engender the confidence of the public and participants, and that they provide the greatest possible economic development benefits and revenues to the people of the Commonwealth, reduce to the maximum extent possible the potentially negative or unintended consequences of the new legislation, and allow an appropriate return on investment for gaming providers that assures the operation of casino-resorts of the highest quality. For more information on MGC, please visit MassGaming.com or connect and share on Twitter (@MassGamingComm) or Facebook www.facebook.com/MAGamingComm.