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FL Trade Schools Rush to Cater to Slot Boom

With the presence of Vegas-style slot machines booming in the Sunshine State, one trade school has attempted to capitalize on the trend by offering classes in how to repair these machines. An Associated Press story reported last week that the Sheridan Technical Center had begun the first autumn session of it’s all-new slot machine repair course, intended to be taught to adults looking for new careers. The Technical Center, whose machine-repair curriculum has been official approved by state officials, will be the first in Florida to offer such a program.

The very first class of the Sheridan Technical Center’s slot-machine repair program has already convened for the first time. The inaugural class has twenty-five students enrolled. It will last for nine weeks. Aspiring slot machine technicians will have to wait until October for the next session to start. The class costs six hundred fifty-one dollars. Students must have unblemished criminal records and pay six hundred fifty-one dollars to enroll.

Florida has been home to Vegas-style slot machines for over two years. They were first approved by the Legislature in 2006. The slots industry was popular from the very beginning, and is experiencing growth at a tremendous rate. Many slots in Florida are hosted by the Seminole Indian tribe. Gary Bitner, a Seminole Indian tribe spokesman, stated that the demand for technicians able to work on the tribe’s estimated fifteen thousand slots is high, and graduates of the program may be able to demand up to eighteen dollars an hour after graduation.

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