This is true in Connecticut.
The two big casinos that opened in Connecticut created a bunch of low paying jobs. They did not create many careers. Mainly jobs for retirees. I think it pays about as much as Walmart
OTOH - there are few bankrupcies. I personally know of only one who lost their house from gambling. And when I've gone there and played a table game, there's occasionally some poor guy who hasn't got a clue how to play blackjack, bets $500 at a time and won't hit on a 14 against a delaer showing a ten card, and quickly loses several thousand dollars. But its rare. One sign that its rare is that the Connecticut casinos are doing poorly since Obama took office...people just don't have spare money to gamble with and most people don't gamble with the grocery money.
I’m currently working as a blackjack dealer in a casino. On the subject of pay, It really depends where you work. Since I live in a rural area, I can make some really good money there esp. when I work on the weekend, because it’s tip-based pay. Most of the jobs though, are held by people who haveno education past high school, and most of the people who work there are not retirees. But that’s just in my area.
We had a guy who was a regular, and he would spend a good deal of money, but one time he ended up losing his mortgage payment. The management of the casino made that payment for him.
I’ve only been dealing for bout a year or so, but usually the people who don’t know how to play only make the minimum bet, and they usually do pretty well, it’s just the rest of the table who gets messed up.
And on the subject of Illinois, our casino is just across the river from Illinois, but there is a state law in IL that you are not allowed to smoke in indoors. Missouri has no such law, so we get people driving in from all over Illinois because they want to smoke, drink and gamble all at the same time.