Behind The Scenes Of The Gambling Industry: Writing Casino Queen
I worked in the casino industry for a long time. As a child watching Ocean’s Eleven, casinos seemed so grown up and glamourous. They were open 24 hours, which made them so alive. On a summer hiatus from teaching school, I drove to Lake Tahoe Nevada and quit my job. I never felt lonely working in the casino. I later worked for Princess Cruises traveling the world as a croupier. I met my Scottish husband on the Star Princess, and when we left ships, we moved to Palm Springs where Native American casinos had just opened. Since we were experienced dealers with connections, juice, we were hired the first day we arrived in town. It was boom time in America, the economy in overdrive, it seemed like the party would last forever.
We were in good company, at the same time thousands of people from all over the world had the same idea and were flocking to the desert to find work. Some of those people had escaped from some of the most oppressive regimes on the planet. Compared to that, handling an unruly gambler probably seemed like a piece of cake. What I admired about my co-workers is that most of them arrived in the United States penniless and worked hard to make their American dream come true. A casino is a multi-cultural environment where every day I learned a lesson about their culture and their stories. I found myself in awe of their resilience. Whether they came from Afghanistan or Communist China, everyone quickly adjusted to life in America. They just got on with it, they didn’t have time for self-pity.
The characters in my book were familiar to me from my two decades working in the casino industry. Fortunately, my boss was the most charismatic tribal chairman in America. I really loved my employers and my job. People always asked me, “What’s a nice girl like you doing working in a place like this?” Now I can honestly say, “Research.” Through the years I took writing classes to hone my craft. The characters in my head just kept letting me know how they wanted their story told. All the pieces of the story came together in an organic way to capture that special time and place when gaming arrived in Southern California.
I wanted to tell the story of a strong but relatable woman, because I worked with so many smart independent women. When my main character Caroline Popov loses everything Tribal Chairman John Tovar throws her a lifeline. The other reason I wrote Casino Queen was to give the readers an insider’s look of what really goes on behind the scenes in the gambling industry. I know that I like to learn something when I read a novel, and from the reviews, I know that my readers really love that aspect of the book. I want them to step into Caroline’s shoes and feel like they have a connection with the Shotowa tribe.
I found the perfect backdrop for Casino Queen in the High Desert of Southern California. A refuge for artists, ex-Marines and desert rats. The brilliant blue sky framed the chocolate mountains in the distance. The rocks at Joshua Tree National Park looked like giant Jenga pieces precariously balanced, ready to fall. Located about an hour from Palm Springs, we loved hiking in the park, an isolated place near the largest Marine base in the world. The Night Hawk casino near that base became the setting for my novel.
Writing a thriller, is like designing a jigsaw puzzle where every piece has to fit, but it can’t be too obvious. The most challenging scene I wrote was the climax of the book. You know the place in the thriller where the crime and the villain are revealed and the protagonist lays her life on the line. For me it was important to write a realistic novel, one that could actually happen. I also had to tie up all the plot points. But most importantly I wanted the ending to be a surprise and you can tell me if I succeeded once you read Casino Queen.
What you don’t know reading my novel is that the series was inspired by actual incidents so coincidental that if you put them in a novel, they would sound like a contrivance. We arrived in Palm Springs and got married three weeks later. My husband’s roommate from the cruise ships was the best man at our wedding. Dave, left his job at our casino and moved to Albuquerque to take a job as a shift manager there. Working there he met Julian and encouraged him to move to Palm Springs for greater opportunities. Even though they switched places they couldn’t avoid their fate. They were both murdered under mysterious circumstances.
The casino industry has been good to me, but I always witnessed corruption just perfect for a thriller. Schemers and thieves operated on both sides of the tables. Millions of dollars passed through the casino every week, casino fleas operated their personal side businesses on the gaming floor, and you never knew who might walk through the door itching for a fight. My hope is that after reading Casino Queen you will walk into a casino more aware of what goes on behind the scenes.
CASINO QUEEN
Alone, desperate and deeply in debt, Caroline Popov lands a job at the Palm Oasis Casino. She is mentored by the charismatic tribal chairman, John Tovar. Embraced by casino culture, she works her way up to casino manager of the Night Hawk, in the High Desert town of Joshua Tree. There, she is responsible for managing multicultural team members, satisfying the demands of challenging guests, growing revenue while rooting out corruption. As she moves up through the ranks of management, her bond with John deepens. In the process of uncovering the underbelly of corruption her list of enemies grows. Sometimes you have to gamble like your life depends on it. With her life on the line can she pull out a win?
Buy links, go to:
Author Bio:
Cara Bertoia grew up in a strait-laced Southern family, but she was always fascinated with casinos. In her twenties on a summer hiatus from teaching in North Carolina, she drove to California and became a dealer at Caesars in Lake Tahoe. Her mother highly disapproved of her working in a casino, “a place so bad it has ‘sin’ in the middle.” Eventually, she succumbed to pressure from the family and returned east to take a hi-tech job in Boston. She also began working on her MFA in writing at Emerson. Her goal was to write the first realistic novel about casino life from the perspective of an experienced table games dealer. She is always amazed that normal and quite intelligent people become absolutely clueless in the casino. They repeat superstitious nonsense and no amount of logic can change their position, maybe her novel will.
TikTok: tiktok.com/@carabertoia
Category: How To and Tips
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
Great interview on a wonderful author who really knows her way around a casino!
I used to gamble a lot. Not so much anymore. But I always enjoyed it. This book showed me a side I never knew.