Major workforce meeting with all counties in the Southern Tier occurs to begin the process of career placement for casino expansion

Casino Career Summit for the public set for December 28

Nichols, N.Y. - December 22, 2015 - As Tioga Downs prepares for its major expansion in the coming months, county labor executives and officials met with Tioga Downs leadership on December 11th to begin the process of placement for the hundreds of new jobs that will be added as part of phase one of the casino expansion project.

The goal of the meeting at Tioga Downs was to access the resources of and work with local Workforce in promoting available jobs, creating a pool of candidates and placing candidates in those jobs. There was an exchange of information that included job descriptions and development, promotional ideas, skill levels currently found in the local labor pools, necessary skills for the new positions, timeline of hiring and what services Tioga Downs need from the Workforce Centers.

Out of the many positions that will be available, over half of them are dealers for poker and the other table games that Tioga Downs will offer. Tioga officials announced that there will be training classes locally that will be free to the public for poker and table games, the details and schedule of which will be determined at the appropriate time and once in full compliance with New York State Gaming Commission regulations.

As part of the workforce agenda, the date for the first Tioga Downs casino career summit for the public was also announced. The summit will be held at Tioga Downs on December 28 from 12 - 4 pm in the stage front and winner's circle lounge. Tioga Downs executives have stated that this is an informational summit where interested employees can come down and find out about the many employment opportunities that will be available and how and when to apply for positions. There will be no hiring at the summit however interested job seekers will attain a lot of valuable information on the newly created positions and any requirements needed. The Available jobs will include poker room, table game and experienced dealers along with slots, guest services, cage, administrative, information technology, surveillance, facilities and food and beverage positions.

"We appreciate all of the time and effort being spent by our local workforce organizations to ensure that we place the right employees with the most appropriate positions. These folks are extremely valuable to our hiring process and we look forward to a great pool of candidates that we can put to work in 2016. We are currently in the process of building a database of potential future applicants, those interested in applying may do so by visiting www.tiogadowns.com/expansion. In addition, we encourage all interested job seekers to come out to the casino career summit on December 28th to learn more about the many local employment opportunities that will be available at Tioga Downs, it will be extremely informative," commented Jeff Gural, CEO of American Racing and Entertainment.

Tioga Downs offers live harness racing, video lottery terminals, video poker and electronic roulette. A variety of eateries are also part of the current entertainment complex. Jeff Gural owns Tioga Downs in Nichols, NY and Vernon Downs in Vernon, NY. Tioga Downs is beginning the process of transforming into a full casino gaming resort to serve the Southern Tier and beyond as well as expanding its facility and workforce to accommodate live casino gaming. In the last decade, Tioga Downs and Vernon Downs have created more than 700 family-sustaining jobs and donated millions to nonprofit organizations. For more information on Tioga Downs, please visit www.tiogadowns.com.