Tales from the Pit: Casino Table Games Managers in Their Own Words by David G.` Schwartz

Author:David G.` Schwartz [Schwartz, David G.`]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNLV Gaming Press
Published: 2016-06-14T04:00:00+00:00

10

What Makes Bad Management?

The interviewees were not as voluble about bad management as good, but had strong feelings. Anxiety about casino losses to patrons, or “sweating,” is the primary complaint interviewees had about bad managers, although some also highlighted overly-strict disciplinary regimens.

Ed Walters

And when you work for Eddie Torres, it is fucking rough.

Tell me about that.

Eddie Torres started from New York, sent out here to the Fremont. He was called the entertainment director. He’s the guy who hired Wayne Newton.

Really?

Yeah, ask Wayne Newton about it. But he got so well-known with Wayne Newton and the Jets and these other guys, he almost became good at it; but yet he’s a stone cold something, you know. So anyway, he ran the El Rancho, he ran the Riviera for the mob. He ran a strict place. Dealers had to show up on time on the minute, I mean he was fuckin’—he ran it like a penitentiary. Didn’t trust the dealers—didn’t trust anybody. Eddie Torres—famous stories, you know—he walked down and put his hand on a slot machine. If there’s dust on it, that fucking guy gets fired. So, he ran the cleanest place, what we call carpet joints, in those days when they had a carpet.

Yeah.

So, business-wise, was he good? Riviera made a ton of money. And, of course, Dean had his TV show so it packed the fuckin’ place. But Eddie Torres is a ruthless, cunning, but very smart man, but no friends, you know.

Ron Saccavino

People talk, in these days, about, “Oh, they sweat the money.” You don’t know what sweating the money is until you work back in those days.

What would they do?

Well, I think the worst joint I ever worked in that sweated the money—and, you know, I gotta admit, when I became a CM for small joints, I was the CM at Lady Luck, I was the CM at Las Vegas Club, a CM at Foxy’s, I was a CM at Paddlewheel—I used to sweat the money, too; but that was the way it was in those days. Today, it’s a lot different. But probably the biggest sweathouse I worked in in those days was probably the Riviera, when Ed Torres was there. He was some kind of cocksucker. And there are stories where, if you wanted to do cocktails there, you had to fucking blow him, or something—he was a motherfucker. He would sit on his perch there, and it just filtered down. I remember one time, dealing, and I remember I had company come from town, we were out drinking and gambling, and I had to go to work, and—Jesus Christ, I was still fucking ripe from drinking and gambling, and we’re to the Riviera, and I was working swing shift there, and I’ll tell you how I got that job later on, but I remember, “Saccavino, get in there,” and it was a lot of money on the table. I mean, I was a good dealer, I had to deal in school, I took pride in what I did—in those days, you did; in these days, you don’t.

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