A poker dealer at Caesars Atlantic City, Kathy Bresan, has received recently a raise of 12 cents per hour. That's cents, not dollars. Now she makes $4.50 per hour, and her take-home pay for her part-time casino job is about $50 per week.

"I can't possibly live on $4.50 an hour," she said.

Bresan and thousands of other Atlantic City casino dealers survive on tips, the lifeblood of many jobs in the service-oriented gaming industry. Dealers estimate two-thirds of their earnings are in tips.

Now they are worried an emerging trend in the casino business may cost them their tips and livelihood. The introduction of automated poker games this summer at Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino reflects the growing popularity of electronic gambling across the country.

Electronic poker machines don't require human dealers - and they certainly don't need to be tipped.
"Right now, I don't see us having a long career," Artemio Rivera, a dealer at Bally's Atlantic City, warned of the impact of electronic gambling on humans.

"This is our future," said Marybeth Litchholt, a dealer at Trump Plaza. "We have been in the casino business for a long time. If they keep bringing in these games, there will be no jobs for us."

The arrival of electronic poker concides with an effort by United Auto Workers to unionize casino dealers. So far, the UAW has won elections at Trump Plaza, Bally's, Caesars and Tropicana Casino and Resort. It lost union drives at the Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort and Trump Marina Hotel Casino, although a judge has ordered a new election at Trump Marina after finding that the first one was flawed by casino misconduct.

Protecting dealers' jobs by limiting the number of electronic table games will be among the safeguards the union seeks as it negotiates new contracts with casinos.

"I believe we can co-exist with electronic table games, but it's important to bargain to get some control," said Alfred Welenc, a dealer at Tropicana.

Up to now, electronic table games hardly registered a blip among the thousands of live table games and slot machines that crowd the floors at the city's 11 casinos. Trump Plaza has started slowly, offering 14 of the electronic PokerPro machines in a modest effort to see if they catch fire with customers. No other casino in town has electronic poker tables.

Rapid Roulette, a new version of the classic game, is another form of electronic gaming that made its Atlantic City debut this year on a limited basis. Harrah's Resort, Bally's, Caesars and Showboat Casino Hotel have one Rapid Roulette table each. A computerized betting system is used to speed up the game, but Rapid Roulette still requires human dealers to spin the wheel and bring chips to gamblers when they cash out.

The New Jersey Casino Control Commission has approved the PokerPro machines and Rapid Roulette as the only electronic table games so far for Atlantic City, spokesman Daniel Heneghan said.

Mark Juliano, chief executive officer of Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., operator of Donald Trump's three casinos, downplayed the significance of electronic table games. He said any fears by dealers of losing their jobs are unfounded.

"They will never take the place of live games," Juliano said.

Dealers, however, remain suspicious. They believe automated table games will gain favor as casinos search for ways to cut salaries and other employee-related expenses to offset declining revenue. Atlantic City's gaming revenue has slipped 6.1 percent this year, a development blamed on the weak economy, higher gas prices and extra competition from slot parlors in neighboring states.

"Electronic gaming is a threat to us," said Ed Little, a Trump Plaza dealer. "It threatens to replace us outright or it will kill our income or adversely affect our income."

The electronic poker machines automatically shuffle and deal the cards, which appear on a large video screen in the middle of the table. Gamblers have a small display screen in front of them equipped with touch controls to place their bets, call or fold. Winners are automatically identified after each round.

Paula Cifelli, a dealer at Caesars, said that no matter how sophisticated the technology becomes, electronic table games will never replace the lively interaction between human dealers and customers.

"I entertain the customers," Cifelli said. "We laugh, we joke. Is a machine going to do that? I have people staying at my table for a long time, even if they are losing money."

Trump Plaza executives hope the electronic games will draw in novice players who eventually will graduate to live table games. Gary Noa, a Trump Plaza dealer, agreed that electronic gambling is a way to introduce an entirely new generation of players to live games, but he thinks the casinos have other motives.

"The history of the casino industry right here is the elimination of the worker," Noa said.

Although automated table games are popular elsewhere, Juliano said Atlantic City gamblers have been slow to embrace the technology. He suspects that may change when Trump Plaza wins regulatory approval to begin staging tournaments using the PokerPro machines.

Even if electronic games become more widely accepted through tournament play, they will never match the popularity or excitement of live gambling, Juliano said. Agreeing with dealers, he said the machines simply can't duplicate the human factor.

"They're boring," he said. "There's no interaction."