After multiple days of competition among 36 dealer contestants the European Casino Association’s European Dealer Champion 2023 winners were announced June 19: the U.K.’s Alessandro Mesina from Les Ambassadeurs beat another U.K. entrant, William Gosnold from U.K.’s Metropolitan Gaming, who was second, with Katarzyna Bielawska from Sweden’s Casino Cosmopol coming in third.
According to Casino Life, the 15th annual European Dealer Champion took place at the Grand Casino Brussels VIAGE in Brussels, Belgium with a record number of contestants and several hundred spectators.
Winner Alessandro Mesina commented, “I can’t explain how happy and excited I am after winning this championship. It was my first time participating in both the UK Dealer Championship and the European Dealer Championship, and to win them both is an ecstatic feeling – adrenaline at 1,000 per cent, constant suspense, I slept probably three hours in the last four days, but it was all worth it!”
Dealers also had to show their skills in American roulette and blackjack, plus chipping, card handling, cutting chips, pushing stacks and mathematics.
The prizes were sponsored by industry suppliers.
The championship, founded in 2007, is the most enduring dealer competition in Europe. Croupiers are chosen from each country in a tournament where they have to show technical skill, control of the game, hospitality and rigid self-control, reported Casino Life.
About 500 contestants from all over Europe participated in the preliminary contests.
ECA Chairman Erwin van Lambaart, commented, “The European Dealer Championship continues to serve as a platform for broadcasting the fact that our industry fosters the finest talent, builds lasting connections, and inspires future generations of professionals to dream big on the greatest of stages, the gaming floors of our European casino members. Every year the EDC reveals the incredible diversity of talent nurtured by the land-based gaming industry, which employs over 60,000 people in Europe.”
The next European Dealer Championship will be held next year at Casino Venlo, hosted by Holland Casino.
