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Seven Luck Casino in Seoul |
 By Bryan Wolff
Surveillance Consultant
Grand Korea Leisure, Seven Luck Casino
Over the past year and a half I have had the unique opportunity to work for Seven Luck Casino as a Surveillance Consultant. Originally from New York, I moved to Las Vegas in 1994 and started my casino career in down town Las Vegas at the Union Plaza.
Over the next 14 years I was able to study the casino industry at UNLV while working at several major casinos in Las Vegas before becoming the Director of Surveillance for the legendary Flamingo Hotel Casino. Although my background is surveillance, I have held several other positions within the casino industry, including being a dealer and a pit manager for the Palms and Playboy Casinos.
Coming from Las Vegas, I have been extremely impressed with both the similarities and differences between casinos and the companies that run them. As a consultant, and initially believing that Seven Luck needed to exclusively follow the Las Vegas model of how to operate a casino, I found Las Vegas could also learn from Korea and in particular Seven Luck Casino. The following are few examples of what I have learned from Seven Luck and hope to take back to Las Vegas or wherever my career takes me.
In the past, the casinos in Korea have had a dubious reputation. That is why from the onset of 7 Luck there has been a total commitment made to the transparency of the casino operation.
Seven Luck strives to be a model of integrity for not only the casino industry but to the corporate culture as well. And although most companies will boast on a perceived notion that is seldom true, Seven Luck actively pursues this goal in daily operations. This is shown by how every customer is treated no matter how big or small. In comparison, the Las Vegas style casinos have grown so big and impersonal that only the biggest players are catered to.
A good example of this is when there is a complaint or dispute in one of the games due to no fault of the player or dealer. In the large casinos, the average player is often disregarded and although the claim may be handled correctly, players still may feel that management does not allow them to properly explain there position and are often left unsatisfied. Where as here at Seven Luck, management continuously goes out of the way to explain and satisfy every customers complaint regardless of size. This has been impressive to observe and at times frustrating having been trained in Las Vegas where generally only the biggest players receive this kind of attention.
Moreover, casino management uses this type of customer feedback to provide one of the best Blackjack games in the world. The Seven Luck standard Blackjack game is dealt from a 6-deck shoe offering the most liberal rules to the player and has a "House Advantage" of only 0.26%.
All blackjack games in Australia, Macau and most European gaming jurisdictions have all now gone to continuous shuffle machines, thus eliminating much of the skill component from Blackjack and even Las Vegas has now gone to 8 deck shoes with a House Advantage triple that of the Seven Luck blackjack game. Further more, 7 Luck offers a version of Australian Pontoon and Spanish 21 called Seven Luck 21 which has a lower house advantage then its counterparts offered in the U.S. and Australia.
This remarkable commitment to customer satisfaction is still further displayed by the casino offering plenty of games at various limits. If you arrive with a few friends and can't find a table where you can all play together or the limits are to high, just ask the shift manager and he will be happy to open a new table for you and try and accommodate any request. Again, as a pit manger in Las Vegas these requests would only be honored for our biggest players and the average player is forced to play how the casino dictates,
These fundamental beliefs in both customer satisfaction and integrity not only benefit the customers of Seven Luck but also the employees. While most casinos have an extremely high turn over rate, here at Seven Luck I believe the employee turnover rate is around 1%.
I think this speaks volumes for any company and especially in an industry where casinos can experience a turnover of around 20%. 7 Luck has realized something most American companies have forgotten, that employee satisfaction is directly related to customer satisfaction. In an industry where trust is paramount, having customers continuously interact with the same employees is vital to insuring that trust.
Working for Seven Luck I continue to be impressed by how well the employees are treated and how much money the company is willing to give back. Be it a gift certificate for a birthday or company anniversary, various department functions and dinners, or providing travel opportunities to visit other gaming jurisdictions, such as Macau and Las Vegas, Seven Luck continuously provides the resources needed for the company and its employees to grow together. This is very rare in western companies where costs are cut at every opportunity and usually begin with employee benefits..
In short, the majority of casinos today have become big and impersonal, and with thousands of employees, often forget the basic fundamentals for success. They would do well to follow the 7 Luck model.
As the economic crises continues and competition grows, only companies that provide the highest customer satisfaction coupled with employee satisfaction will continue to thrive, and without hesitation, I have to say that Seven Luck Casino has been one of the most impressive companies I have had the privilege to be associated with.
Bryan Wolff is a surveillance consultant at Grand Korea Leisure Co. which operates Seven Luck Casino. He can be reached at wolffbm@yahoo.com.
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