The Wheel Always Turns

By James Brown

James has a story to tell - and what a story. If you have ever worked in a casino - read on, if you’ve ever gambled in a casino - read on, or if you’d just like to read about a life of adventure and mayhem starting in 1960’s Glasgow (and James is still involved in casinos) - then this is the story for you... You won’t regret it!

When a family friend offers a young working class lad in Scotland the chance to work in a local casino little does he know the life of adventure which is about to begin. The author describes in tremendous detail the working life of a casino and the antics and scrapes of life outside work - whether he is in GLASGOW, LONDON, NIGERIA, IRAN, YUGOSLAVIA, GREECE, EGYPT OR OTHER EXOTIC LOCATIONS.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Oct 13, 2014
• ISBN: 9781326047061

James Brown

James Brown is the author of several novels including Lucky Town and Final Performance. He has received the Nelson Algren Award for Short Fiction, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in fiction writing and a Chesterfield Film Writing Fellowship from Universal/Amblin Entertainment. His writing has been featured in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Denver Quarterly and New England Review. He lives with his family in Lake Arrowhead, California.

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The Wheel Always Turns

THE WHEEL ALWAYS TURNS

By

James Brown

Copyright

Copyright ©  James Brown 2014

eBook Design by Rossendale Books: www.rossendalebooks.co.uk

eBook ISBN: 978-1-326-04706-1

All rights reserved, Copyright under the Berne Copyright Convention and Pan American Convention. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Dedication

I dedicate this book to my sons Stuart and Struan and to Brendan Jamieson

the man who introduced me to this magical world of casinos

Prologue

My two sons Stuart and Struan are forever reminding me that I am not a young guy any more, and can be a bit boring when talking about the old days.

When I used to tell them stories of my childhood and the hard life my Brother, Sisters and I had and what an easy life they have they just roll their eyes as if to say here he goes again we are now going to hear the story that he only had one pair of shoes as a young boy, they have a right good laugh at these moments and think that I am boring.

I was brought up in Paisley, Scotland in an area called Shortroods, it was a tough place nobody really had much, but I grew up with some great families, they are too numerous to mention here, but I have never forgotten any of them.

I have lived and worked in 15 different countries in my career, but I have never lived anywhere that compared to where I grew up, I talk in terms of friendship and loyalties.

I have never really discussed my job with my sons and really just started this journal for them to read knowing that after they read it they will realize that their Dad wasn’t boring and hasn’t led a boring life, we shall see.

Why did I choose the casino business as a profession? That is not so difficult to answer.

As a teenager and a young guy I was a bit of a wild lad not crazy or nasty a bit immature and stupid would be a good description.

I was like most of the lads that I grew up with, a bit reckless and we were forever scrapping.

As a young lad from The West of Scotland, and coming from a working class background one always had to prove to one's peers that one had ‘bottle’ meaning that you were fearless.

And that would mean acting the tough guy believe me that is no easy task when one is only 5 foot 2 inches tall.

Though I did grow up to be an impressive 5 foot б inches tall !!!!!!! My mates and I were involved in fights and skirmishes almost every week­end it all seems a bit silly now, then street ‘cred’ meant everything in a young guy's life.

Guys tended to get typecast, ‘he's a fighter’, ‘he's a nut case’, ‘he's been in Borstal’, ‘he’s a weirdo’, ‘he's a Mammy's boy’ etc.

I recall two brothers who lived in our area in Paisley, John and Henry Monaghan, John was around my age and Henry a couple of years younger they had a stable family background.

Their Father John senior was an Irish emigrant and a very hard working man, their Mum was a very sweet lady and they were taught to be independent, they didn’t 't really cut about with the rest of the lads, and they just stuck with each other.

This obviously targeted them for a bit of abuse from the lads, and to compound their troubles they started to play tennis, which we wise young men knew to be a girl's game .They used to get dogs abuse when they walked down the street with their tennis rackets, it didn't seem to bother them too much.

To all the young guys in the area they were considered to be weird guys they didn't play football and that really singled them out, everyone played football it was the game of the working classes.

If one didn't play football or support one of the Scottish clubs, then that person was an outcast My late Mother used to worry about me all the time I was 17, I had two sisters Linda and Carol Ann aged 12 and 3, and my brother Martin was only 5.

The week-ends were the worst for her, as I would arrive home with the odd cuts and bruises and the occasional black eye, it was just part of growing up in that area.

She was talking to a young guy who had bookmakers in the area his name was Brendan Jamieson.

He owned a bookmakers (Turf Accountants) shop, everyone in the area gambled in his place.

My Mother knew him and his brother Hugh as her Dad, my Grandfather Malkie (who was a joiner) had built their first bookie shop a sort of log cabin, in New Inchinnan Road, now they had moved to a purpose built shop in Springbank Road.

His partner was his brother Hugh, nobody liked him as he was an ex Policeman, and the police ex or otherwise weren’t liked in our area.

She was bemoaning the fact that I was fighting every week-end, and it would only be a matter of time before I got into trouble with the police.

She said that I was a good boy and some of my wilder friends were leading me astray, this was a Mother talking, I was as good or bad as the rest of my mates I knew right from wrong we were all just daft lads who hung out together.

Brendan was about 8 years older than me and was a really nice guy, when some of the guys lost their salaries he would give them halfback and ban them from the shop for a month.

Everyone in the area liked him even though he took their money, the same couldn’t be said for his brother Hugh, everybody hated him as he smiled as he took their money.

Brendan’s other brother was a Catholic Priest and now and again he used to visit the shop, during one visit he gave me a lift to Celtic Park as I was going to see Rangers playing there, I didn’t know if it was such a good idea a Catholic priest dropping me off at the Rangers end!!! Brendan was a real Jack the Lad a snappy dresser always pulled the lovely women and had loads of money a nice car and he played in the casinos in Glasgow.

One day he was talking to me outside his shop and asked me if I had ever thought of being in the gambling business as a career, I had just passed my 18th Birthday, and thinking that he was going to offer to train me to be a bookie I said I would like to try that.

He then asked me if I would be interested in going on a Croupier training Course in a casino in Glasgow.

To be honest I had no idea what a Croupier was when he explained it to me I said ok I will give it a go.

A couple of days later he told me that the training course wouldn’t start for another б weeks, but he could get me a job as a waiter in the casino until the school started.

The next day he drove me to Glasgow to the Regency Casino; I was interviewed and given the job.

I had never really worked much before as I had only been out of School for over a year and didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I had to work weekends so there would be no fighting, that kept my long suffering Mother happy.

Taking that step to work in the casino business was the best move I ever

made in my life, I did miss the antics that a young guy in my age group got

up to, and believe me that was a good thing. This job has enabled me to work all over the world.(Apart from 3 months at the start of 1984 when I was in the Chevalier to learn the systems as Stakis were going to hire me as GM in their Bradford property, I needed to learn the British Gaming laws to get a Grey License) I have not worked in the Casino business in Scotland for about 40 years and I have no intention of ever doing so again.

From time to time I miss living in Scotland, but my business is elsewhere, there are casinos in Scotland and I do not want to criticize them, but they are small enterprises.

My wife and my eldest son are based in Scotland, and my youngest boy has just graduated from Bournemouth University, I wanted my kids to have a stable upbringing and to be British and Scottish not expatriates.

I am still in the casino business 47 years after I started as a trainee, at the moment I am working for an International company in Taba, Egypt.

James Brown

2013

Introduction

This book encompasses my first 24 years in the business from 1966 to 1990 (the year my youngest boy Struan was born) This shall be book one of The Wheel Always Turns, Book Two I have not really started but I have written the synopsis so I know where I will be going with it.

This is my first attempt at writing such a book which has been put together with the help of old diaries, a pretty good memory, and some help from my old buddy Nick Hughes, and a couple of other friends that I worked with, there is also a little embellishment here and there.

If at times I appear to be jumping all over the place like a demented budgie please bear with me as I wished to write as I thought, and also during some of the events described herein I wasn’t exactly Compos Mentis.

Most of the stories that I relate to in this book are actual events that took place either in a casino I worked in, a country I visited or a party or Establishment that I frequented, most of the people throughout this book are people that I know personally.

I shall be as frank and honest as possible and will try not to insult anyone intentionally but inevitably someone is bound to get upset, I have not been slow to criticize myself in this story, makes a nice change from someone else doing it, criticism is part of life and I have had plenty of it during my career, though to be honest most Casino people have skin as thick as a Rhinoceros.

Hopefully I shall be able to bring to life for you some of the most diverse people that I have ever been in contact with, casino people.

The maturity, stability, common sense and normal behavior that one associates with the average person are not found in most of the people who feature in this story, I include myself in this category after all I am a casino guy.

To date I have lived and worked in many environments starting in my home country of Scotland before moving to London where I really started to learn what this business is all about.

My first overseas job was in Iran during the rule of the Shah, it wasn't exactly Acapulco more like Alcatraz, and it almost was for me.

Southampton was just a brief pit stop to fire up the batteries, though I did like the New Forest area very much it was a very beautiful setting, it was a great place to go for Sunday lunch in one of the many pubs there.

I went to Dubrovnik in the former Yugoslavia where I had the time of my life and fell in love with a gal from Texas.

When I joined the Playboy Club in Park Lane London I didn't realize that it would be the best club that I have ever worked in, it was relaxed yet professional and the staff really got taken care of.

After leaving the Playboy in 1980, I never worked in a casino in the UK again.

Finally I went to Lagos, Nigeria and what an eye opener that place was, I went for a year to try to save some serious money and finished up doing two stints that lasted almost ten years.

Since then I have owned a public bar in Scotland and almost became an alcoholic, people who partake of alcohol should never buy a bar, the lesson was learned the hard way, I gave it up after less than a year (the lesson cost me a lot of money) and went back to the casino business.

Since then I have worked in Poland, Slovakia, Moscow, Belarus, Greece, Yugoslavia, Ireland, Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan, Romania and Egypt.

Throughout my many years in the business and of working abroad one fact has always been prevalent, British gaming staff are amongst the best that the world has to offer.

I am not saying that they are perfect far from it, they drink too much alcohol love a scrap, and can be really boring when they start to tell all within earshot that England is the best place in the world, the people listening must have been saying to themselves, then why didn’t you stay there if it is so perfect.

They are also masters in the art of telling untruths when it comes to discussing past or present salaries or positions within the business, when it comes to writing a partly fictitious CV the British Gaming staff are in the world class bracket.

There are one or two clichés that are used in our business to describe one's feelings when a bad turn is done to one.

The most famous of these is ‘what goes around comes around’, the title of this story also contains a word that is oft used to describe one that isn’t exactly a good guy.

It is quite a rude word and if you don't want to know what it is please turn the page now.

If you didn’t turn the page then here it is, take the first letter of each word in the book title and that is a crude way of describing a colleague who isn’t exactly your favorite person.

I hope that you will enjoy the story…

The People That I Have Worked With.

When one talks about friends in the business it normally means business associates, friendships formed as a youngster will always be remembered more, as will the people you trained with, you have a bond with them.

In the 15 countries that I have worked in, I have only come across about a dozen people that I didn’t really like, and half of them strangely enough were in Greece, where I really loved working, only one was Greek.

Four of the others had previously worked in South Africa, and it showed in their arrogant manner.

I will tell those stories in part two of this book.

I suppose when one is working in a casino at home or abroad the people that you work with are your friends, but it is the people that you don't see from year to year and still think of as friends that really are friends, most people’s real friendships stem from childhood and teenage years and I still have a few of those.

I hesitated to name friends in the business as someone may get insulted if you don't name them, a friend in my eyes is someone who is Loyal, honest with you, tolerant when you are being stupid, and of course they buy their round.

The people who I would consider to be in this bracket are, in no particular order.

Bobby Keith

Bobby is no longer with us he died a long time ago in Australia we had some great times in Scotland, he was a great guy, who I still think about and miss.

Lesley Rodger

He was my best friend in the business in Scotland, he is from my home town in Paisley and our families are friends, a very good man to have as a friend, we are friends to this day.

Nick Hughes

One of my closest friend still in the business he has a great position as head of a casino company based in Kentucky USA.

I trust Nick with my life and I can't say more than that except that he is a real genuine guy who cares about people.

Ian Gosling

One of the wackiest guys I have ever worked with, also one of the most talented operators I have ever come across, if he is not the best thern he is close.

He has helped me a lot in the business and encouraged me to reach and realize my potential.

John Haran

A good friend for the last 17 years, despite him having the same affliction as his brother Mathew, a poor Celtic supporter.

A good guy who see’s the good in everyone, and will always help out a friend in need.

Larry Lewin

He gave me the opportunity to be a Director for Hyatt in Greece and I didn’t let him down, I will always have good thoughts about him.

Ian Orr

More like my brother than a friend, we have had some great times together in Southampton, Dubrovnik and Poland, another man that I would trust with my life.

The last time I heard about him he had opened a bar in Cadiz Spain with his Spanish wife.

Larry Cohen

A good man who would always help a friend in need if it was in his power to do so, unfortunately a lot of his so-called friends weren’t there when Larry needed them and he has sadly passed over.

John Gillan

I first met John when I worked at the Casanova and he worked at the Claremont we got introduced by somebody I knew from Playboy in the Coach and Horses and we became good mates, he did me a favor that I will never forget.

I lost touch with him when he went to work for Nigel in Majorca and I went to Nigeria, but I haven’t forgotten what a great mate he was.

Margaret Woods a.k.a. Woodsy

A Scottish girl from Aberdeen, we shared a lot when we were at Playboy together including an apartment, she would have done anything for me, and I for her, we were really close friends and even though I haven't seen her now for a few years, I would still do anything for her.

Andrew Kingston

What a guy this is he is the most honest and genuine person I have ever met in my life in or out of casinos.

We had some hilarious times in Lagos together. I actually believed at times that we were mentally challenged.

I would trust my life and the life of my family to Andrew and know that it was in safe hands.

Geoff and Annette Taylor

I have been friends with them since Iran in the seventies, Geoff and I worked together again in Greece where he was the GM and I was a Director, I then worked for him in Ireland where he was in partnership in a small casino in Cork They are a lovely couple and have always been easy to get on with, Geoff has now retired, though I am sure he could still do a great GM job better than some of the people I have seen in recent years.

Roger Penycate

A real nice guy to be friends with, we had a lot of laughs together throughout the seventies, one always found Roger the same way he was never a moody guy, just a real good guy to be friends with, he now lives in the USA and we keep in touch on Facebook.

Other people that I have been good friends with and/or worked with and remembered are as follows:

Peter Sugar (London) Eddie Hardy (Glasgow) Peter Taylor (Greece) Ray Cannon (Greece) Stratos Koutsirides (Greece) Brigitte Cerat(Greece) Carl Farrell (Greece) Tas Koustoulis (Greece) Jason Patman (Greece) Leigh Gristock (Greece) Mark Lilburn (Greece) Niki Dougari (Greece) Elpida Douventzidou (Greece) Maria Chrontsiou (Greece) Bryce Bishop (Greece) David Henry (Greece) Steve Kelsey (Greece & Dominican Republic) Tony Butler (Greece) Gary Gregg (Greece) Graham Dugdale (Greece) Colin Bridgeman (Greece) John Wells (Greece) Carmen Albendea (Greece) Lamberto Graglia (Greece) Larry Lewin (Greece & USA) Vangelis Paralis (Greece & Romania) Riccardo Ingrassia (Greece) Andy Watt (Greece & Playboy) Richard Donnelly, Steve Bretherton and Nick Carter AKA the bad boys (Greece) Paul & Devi Kerr (Greece) Peter Thurston (Playboy & Greece) Carol Traynor (Friend Greece) George Workman (Southampton) Ian Orr (Southampton, Dubrovnik and Poland) Bernie Callow (Glasgow, London & Nigeria) Sam & Ann Johnston (Glasgow) Lenny Quayle (Glasgow) Roy Sykes (Glasgow) Dave Farga (Glasgow & Playboy) Jack Bell (Glasgow) Jack Murray (Glasgow) Jimmy Catterson (Glasgow) Mario Alvino my trainer (Glasgow) Mike Hardinge (Casanova London) Janet Sykes (Casanova & Playboy) Enzo Carrer (Casanova) Peter Moore (Casanova) And all 75 Casanova gaming staff who were on strike together.

Iran the whole crew they are named in a later chapter.

Safet Habib (Dubrovnik) Asko Mutapcic (Dubrovnik) Dragon Gacina (Dubrovnik) Papillion (Dubrovnik) Roger Penycate (Playboy & Iran) David Marshall (Playboy) John Wing (Playboy) Mickey Markham (Playboy) John Wicks (Playboy) Jim Fonseca (Playboy) Alex (chillo) Momberg (Playboy) Matt Haran (Playboy) David Tadhunter (Playboy) Dave Foan (Playboy) Don Kennaugh (Playboy & Nigeria) Ronnie Lee (Playboy & Nigeria) Mick Jones (Playboy) Peter Green (Playboy) John Lloyd King (Playboy) Ricky Munoz (Playboy) John Byrne (Playboy) John Barton (Playboy) Bill & Ann Sleight (Playboy) Andy Wade (Playboy) Richard Kowski (Playboy & Poland) Tony Rodgers (Playboy, Nigeria in passing) Bunny Zoe (Playboy) Anne Messenger (Playboy) Lorna Perry (Playboy & Moscow)

If I have not mentioned anyone on this Playboy list then it means they are in the story.

John Gillan (Clermont) Hector (Claremont) Angie (Claremont) Nigel (Claremont) Millie & Rita (Claremont) Adam (The Baron) Stompolski (Poland) Malgosha Morgan (Poland) Celina Zagorski (Poland) Colin Stuart (Poland) Andy Brochowski (Poland) Steve Bullen (Poland & Egypt) Kasia Kurzydwa (Poland) Kasia Krupowic (Poland) Agnieka Mierzeweska (Poland & Ireland) Rassoul Mears (Poland) Brendan Gardner (Poland) Dennis Rose (Poland) Chris Brant (Poland) Sharon Close (Poland & Kyrgyzstan) Pedrag Trifunivic a.k.a. Trifki, (Poland, Slovakia and Belarus) Malgosha Angierman (Poland) Marek Kaczarowski (Poland) Omar Gaber (Poland) Gary Wilson (Slovakia) Tony McMillan (Slovakia) Lavinia Horton (Slovakia) Mel (GB) Williamson F.y.r.o.m. for a short time.

Friends in the business that I never had the pleasure to work with Peter Burrows (Nigeria, and a few other spots around the world) Eric Locket (Manxman) George Cornelius (London) Mike Bennet (London amongst others) David (Jacko) Jackson (Moscow) Mel & Marek (Casino Moscow) Andy Coggins (Moscow) Mike McDonald (Moscow) John & Roz Fisher (London) Michael Boucher (Moscow) Paul Johnstone (Glasgow) Others.

Stephen and Lisa Sinclair (Egypt) Stellios Michaelides (Kyrgyzstan, Dominican Republic & India) John Harris (Greece Kyrgyzstan, Dominican Republic & India) Sue Jacob (Greece, and Kyrgyzstan) Beishen, Nina and Oksana (Kyrgyzstan) Nick Shaw (Casino supplier)

If I have forgotten anyone please forgive me.

I have a great memory but not perfect.

Some people I haven’t mentioned in the list and that’s because they are in the story.

And all the guys who worked in Ramsaar the best crew that I ever worked with.

There are some other people that I haven't mentioned here and they are some of the guys that I trained with others were in the training school just before mine, or just after mine, or they had been working in the business for just a short time before me, they are all Scots apart from one and are as follows.

Les Rodger

Went out of the business in the early days, stayed on in Scotland. I think he would have missed Rangers too much to leave, we are still friends.(Les is in the first list but he also merits a mention here)

James McCarvill

A good man who helped me on more than one occasion. A fine person who reached the top of the tree in the business with the Stakis Group.

George Sullivan

A fine guy and a good craps dealer was married to the lovely Mary, he looked a little bit like a Scottish Errol Flynn. He never really reached his full potential in the business as he left due to criminals who put pressure on his family to try to make him dishonest.

Jimmy ‘The Cat’ Catterson

From my home town of Paisley, went out of the business after a couple of years to become a publican and did very well in that career. Was a big man with the ladies he was a thin wee guy who looked like he needed a big meal rather than a big woman, looks can be deceptive

Bernie Callow

From the Isle of Man he had a big influence on the early years of my career, a quiet and placid guy who loved the horse racing.

Alan Keith

Brother of Bobby, came from the Gorbals in Glasgow a very tough boy, a few years after Bobby left he followed him to Australia where he continued his Gaming career.

Ian Cuthbertson

A gangly lad who was a few years older than the rest of us,(his brother Billy also worked with us but I didn’t know him well) he was probably one of the best wheel dealers that I have ever seen; he made it look so easy. Sadly the last time I heard about him was in the early nineties when a mutual friend told me that he had MS, I never heard of him since then.

John (Bugs Bunny) Donnelly

An absolute wizard when it came to seducing beautiful women, despite his Bugs Bunny teeth and his 1950’s hairstyle and dress sense.

James Wrethman

A close friend from youth with James McCarvill they were both from Penilee, which is close to my home town of Paisley. He has done very well in the business and is president of his own company. Jim had the largest hands that I have ever seen on anyone in the business.

Malcolm McNeil

From Torrance a village near Glasgow, a true gentleman and an excellent dealer, last I heard of him he was working in management in Moscow, that place is now closed so have no idea where he is now.

Thomas Brady.

One of the most outrageous people that I have ever met in all my years in the business, wasn’t all that tall but talked like Al Capone, I don't think he has thrown a punch in anger since he was about 6 years old.

Phil Dinardo.

A Scottish/Italian and a very well liked guy I have never heard anyone say a word against his good name. Sadly Phil died in Australia in 1972 aged 25 from a cancer related disease, gone for a long time but never forgotten.

All the above guys I remember with great fondness they were all good at their jobs, and were great guys to boot.

We have all gone our separate ways doing our own thing down through the years in and out of the business.

There have been fall outs down the years some serious enough to stop dialogue, others not so serious.

I am proud to have started my career and socialized with every one of those guys, they were the best.

Chapter One   -   Training at the Regency Casino, Glasgow

I started training to be a croupier in 1966 it was not a great year for us Scots, the much hated England football team had won the World Cup at Wembley Stadium, perhaps stolen it is a more apt description.

We Scots knew that the whole competition had been rigged in their favor, they played all their games in their home stadium Wembley, something that has never occurred to any host nation in a World Cup competition before or after 1966.

The icing on the cake for the English team and their fans was reserved for the final when they were awarded a goal for a shot that hit the bar and never crossed the line.

Even though they went on to score a fourth goal in the dying seconds of extra time the injustice of that third goal being allowed deflated the German team’s spirit.

The Russian linesman who gave the referee the information that the ball had crossed the line, would have needed the vision of Superman to make such a call. Even Hawkeye at Wimbledon would not have called that over the line.

A more likely explanation was that he was remembering that Germany was the enemy and he decided to help the English to teach them a lesson.

Less than a year later Scotland, with a mixture of young and aging players went to Wembley and showed the English how the beautiful game should really be played, though we did have ‘slim’ Jim Baxter and Dennis Law playing.

We didn’t need to use underhanded tactics skill and heart were enough, we won 3-2 it could have 10-2 Law wanted to score more goals, but Baxter who was controlling the game said no, let’s just extract the urine from them or words to that effect.

That day the World Champions were made to look extremely foolish with Baxter finding time during the game to play keepy- uppy with the ball, it was men against boys.

I digress on to the story.

I got off to a bad start in the training school on the very first day, with the trainer Mario Alvino.

He was a squat sort of square faced Italian just a little taller than me, which made him quite short, he was married to a Scottish girl.

He had us all around an American Roulette table and he gave us a brief rundown on how the game worked.

He explained to us that we would learn Roulette and would be trained by the Chellini method.

Trying to be a funny guy I quipped, sounds like a new type of Spaghetti, which drew a few laughs from the other trainees.

Maria glared at me and said, do not make jokes about something that you don't understand little boy.

My face went bright red and I wished there and then that I wasn’t there, I had been put firmly in my place.

Mario thought that the Chellini family were Gods, and that Dino Chellini was the big Godfather, I found out a few years later who they were and almost worked for their guys in Amsterdam the Ayoubs I then understood why Mario thought as he did.

We trained Monday to Friday four hours a day to learn one game, the first month was really boring.(After my four hours training I would then start my shift as a waiter in the Regency Casino.) We would each get 10 stacks of color chips 20 to a stack, we would then knock them down pick them up in the way that he had shown us, and 'feel’ for each stack of twenty, one had to judge the feel I was really lucky and got it right every time, I had small hands and could only hold a maximum of 20 chips.

We then had to learn to push chips from the dealer's position on the actual roulette table.

We had to push from the dealers position to the players position 35 chips through to ten stacks of chips, I was pretty good to eight stacks and struggled on nine and ten stacks, my small hands were the problem.

About 30 people started that school after two weeks training, twelve were left, and after the first month only eight were left, including yours truly the course would last for three months just to learn one game.

I did have an advantage over the other guys as I worked as a waiter in the casino, and the Italian and Manx guys dealing there all helped me during my working hours.

Mario told me about a year later that he didn’t think that I would last the course to the end, I was too cheeky had too much too say for myself, and my hands were too small to be a wheel dealer.

What he did not take into account was the inbuilt desire in the Scottish nature to prove that we were better than everybody else, also short Scottish guys always had that attitude to try harder.

I was always confident that I would make it as a croupier.

A word that I didn't know the meaning of a few short months before.

I was now a fully fledged trainee Croupier, though I was to learn a few years later in London that only French Roulette and Baccarat dealers had the right to be called Croupiers everyone else was just a dealer.

I heard this from a Baccarat dealer in London, he was French of course and not to be taken too seriously, so I continued to call myself a Croupier.

I must have been the most reluctant Croupier to start in a casino, after working for almost five months as a waiter in the casino whilst training I was making great money thanks to excessive tips earned during Poker games, they could last up to 24 hours a session, during that time it was not unusual to make 15 to 20 pounds in tips. That was the amount the head waiter Paddy (an Irishman strangely enough) would give me, he kept the rest which would amount to about, 60 or 70 pounds, that was a fortune then.

Paddy was about 50 years old and was slightly taller than me he had sort of black hair with grey sprinkled through it, he had a well lived in face and was a major alcohol drinker.

When one takes into consideration that the average tradesman of the time earned around 12 pounds a week and that included overtime I am sure you can understand my reluctance to give this job up.

Mario persuaded me that my future lay in Gaming, he said that any fool can be a waiter but it takes someone special to be a Chellini trained wheel dealer.

He had appealed to my vanity and vanity won; I was still earning about 15 pounds a week plus tips which was great money for a young boy who was wet around the ears.

It was a great learning experience and I learned the business by watching and listening and sometimes aping the more experienced dealers.

I was also to learn a more dangerous game how to cope with large amounts of alcohol, I didn’t really drink alcohol before I joined the casino as I played football and trained, I would learn from the professionals.

The first duty of all trainees was to report to the Pit Boss he then checked that your nails were short and clean, and that your hair was the regulation length and style, that was called short back and sides, it was like being in the army.

The first real task of the day for all trainees was to clean all the roulette wheels then the lay-outs.

The lay-outs had laminated numbers and would be cleaned by taking a dry clean cloth applying Soda water to the cloth and then cleaning the numbers one by one.

I grew to hate the sight of Soda water and have never drank it in my life.

After 3 or 4 months I was a fully fledged Croupier, life was good.

Chapter Two   -   Working at the Regency Casino, Glasgow

I started working as a trainee croupier at the Regency Casino towards the end of 1966 I think I may be a few months out here, either way.

It was the second casino in the Stakis Group the flagship being the Chevalier which was located in Buchanan Street Glasgow, A Greek/Cypriot called Reo Stakis owned the group which also had quite a few Hotels and steak-houses dotted around the West of Scotland.

Cypriots from his village ran both casinos and some of them had little more experience than I had, but he trusted them.

Even being a rookie I didn’t think that this was the way to run a business, The Cypriots were a very superstitious people, I remember once during a bad run they brought in a Greek Orthodox priest to bless the casino and drive out the bad luck.

Some evenings if we had a losing night on certain tables the waiters would be ordered to cut up a few cloves of garlic and sprinkle these under the offending tables.

They also believed passionately in ‘lucky’ dealers, they actually believed that some dealers could spin sections of the wheel which would enable the house to gain an advantage over the clients!!!!! One such ‘lucky’ dealer was a short, balding middle aged guy from Glasgow called Jimmy Sampson; he had the Cypriots convinced that he could spin small sections of the wheel when he was in the mood.

We had one player who came in every week night he was a chartered accountant in Glasgow City centre, I still remember his name.

He was always well inebriated and always came in with a lady of the night, if he wanted a whiskey Paddy the waiter would take him to the office for a couple of glasses as we weren’t licensed to sell or serve alcohol, he had a few trips an evening for a whisky, and he tipped 5 pounds to Paddy every time, no wonder Paddy hardly ever had a day off during the week.

The clients bet was the same every spin 10 pounds on three simple chances, Red numbers, even numbers and high numbers, and Jimmy had the Cypriots convinced that only he could beat this guy.

How anyone could beat that bet was beyond rational thinking, I may have been a rookie but I wasn’t stupid, I knew it wasn’t possible to do this.

One evening after the casino closed a few of the trainees including me told Jimmy that we knew that this selective spinning wasn't possible, and if he was saying it was then perhaps he could show us how he did it, we were calling his bluff.

He got the needle and refused to show us how he did it saying, you young guys are in the business 5 minutes and think that you know everything, you know nothing, don’t dare question an artiste such as myself.

Being young and confident we answered him in time honored Glaswegian fashion just two little words, the second one being off, he was disgusted and stayed aloof from us.

He was an arrogant wee man and less than 6 months later the Cypriots fired him and I never heard of him ever working in a casino again, so much for the artiste!!!! One of the most unforgettable characters working in the Regency during this time was a guy called John Lowrie.

He was about 6 foot tall, had fair hair and not a lot of it and a face full of broken veins, he had a ruddy complexion this was the face of a man who was a heavy drinker.

At other times he wasn’t so ruddy he was so pale that he looked like ‘death warmed up ‘, the undertaker in the area of Glasgow where John resided must have thought I shall be having him as a customer soon.

On his last day at work John was his usual self, a wee bit drunk and as the night wore on he was getting drunker after every break, he obviously had a bottle hidden somewhere He was dealing Blackjack and as he pulled the first card from the ‘shoe’ it flew out of his hand and over the players head.

It went over the balcony that was situated on the player's side of the table, and landed on the Baccarat table downstairs much to the surprise of the patrons playing there.

Most dealers would have been mortified, not John, he told the players ‘that card is burned’ and carried on dealing.

That little incident went unpunished, then disaster struck he dropped a card on the floor on the dealers side right beside his foot.

As he bent down to