For LeErica Knight, every night at work is a party where the music’s rocking, the neon lights are flashing, the mood’s just right and the math must be perfect.

Knight has been a table games dealer with Ameristar Casino for about two years and her bubbly attitude and charming smile greet guests who want to play poker, blackjack or roulette.
“While I’m getting dressed at home I’m always thinking it’s time to go to the party,” Knight said.
As a table dealer, she’s on the front lines of Mississippi’s world-famous hospitality. She’s got much more one-on-one contact with tourists than almost anyone else in the local hospitality industry, so she knows she’s an ambassador for the city and state.
“You have to decide what type of environment you’re going to give your guests. It’s about making them happy, win, lose or draw,” Knight said.
Knight also knows sign language because her sister is deaf, so she frequently helps with hearing impaired players.

“It makes them feel like they’re at home in here,” she said.
Behind the warm charming exterior, Knight’s mind must be a steel trap for math. She’s constantly adding, subtracting and multiplying to determine winnings as she high-fives her guests who lay down a winning hand.
“I’m always excited about it, but I’m thinking. I have to do the math and figure out what they’re getting paid,” Knight said.
Dealers go through extensive training to learn the rules and regulations of the often-complex table games allowed by the Mississippi Gaming Commission. For Knight, the math came easy. The shuffling was the hard part.
“In class, you’re pretty much terrified. Once you get past the nerves you’re alright. When you start on the floor, you’ve got people to help you,” she said.
Since starting at the casino, Knight’s mastered roulette and several forms of blackjack and poker. She’s also working on learning the complex odds of craps and how to deal baccarat.
“The more you know, the better it is for you in terms of advancement and the more tables you get to work. If you only know one game, you’re at one table all the time,” she said.
For someone who was scared of shuffling at first, Knight has come a long way. Her favorite game to deal now is pitch blackjack. Pitch blackjack uses a smaller deck and is dealt and shuffled by hand rather than from a traditional card shoe. The game typically moves fast and players are allowed to touch their cards unlike shoe blackjack.
“It’s fun because I get to show off a little bit,” Knight said.
Almost any night of the week, the tables at Ameristar are packed full of patrons waiting to play. By 8 p.m., the casino floor is typically packed and by 9 everything’s in full swing.
“It’s the best party in the world. It really gets going by then,” she said. “The real party is on the weekend. We get to have all the fun.”
So what gets players more excited than having a chance to win thousands of dollars? Sports.
“Football season is the best season in the world. It goes for dealers, guests and supervisors. We’re all here watching and cheering,” she said.
Knight is also Ameristar’s songstress. She regularly gets recruited to sing “Happy Birthday” to guests because of her downtime hobby.
“If I don’t have any guests at one of my tables, I’m usually standing here singing. I know all the songs,” she said.