The Ohio Casino Control Commission on Wednesday decided the Hollywood Casino Columbus should open by Oct. 8, as long as it meets necessary requirements.

Commission Executive Director Matt Schuler said that includes the installation of about 3,000 slot machines and 70 table games and the licensing of employees and the casino itself.

A spokesman for developer Penn National Gaming says about 900 of the 2,000 employees have been hired.

Ohio’s first two casinos opened earlier this year in Cleveland and Toledo. Gamblers bet more than $417 million during those casinos’ first full month in business, and operators paid out more than $371 million in winnings.

A fourth casino planned in Cincinnati is expected to open next year.

Come Thanksgiving, the Hollywood Casino is expected to be teeming with the dings and bells of slot machines and, of course, people, including 2,000 employees. And many of them will be dealing the cards and running gaming tables.

The casino opened its career center to online applicants who met the basic job requirements. Fifteen-thousand people already have applied for more than 600 dealer positions.

Shawn Williamson, from Obetz, is one of them. Williamson drove a school bus, but she was laid off.

“When I heard they were coming here I was hoping and praying that I’d have a chance to get in,” she said.

And Williamson likely had a leg up on some of the applicants. From Atlantic City, she used to deal blackjack. But like everyone else, Williamson will have to take the mandatory dealer classes. She’ll study poker and craps.

“The more games you have the more valuable employee you are. And you don’t have to deal the same game all the time, repetition, repetition, switch it up. Helps keep you on your toes,” Williamson said.

Samuel McCauley, from the West Side, also is unemployed; in his case, for more than a year.

“I’m still looking for a job. Every time I go somewhere I’m either overqualified, under-qualified, I want too much money,” he said.

McCauley’s never dealt cards before, but he’s convinced he can do it.

“We have to go to school, it’s five days a week, four hours a day for anywhere from six to eight weeks. [Wow, that’s a pretty big commitment.] Yes, it is. [Do you think you’re going to like it?] Oh, I’m going to love it. I like people. I always have a good time,” McCauley said.

Treesje Mock, from the South Side, has a full-time job right now. But the company Mock works for was recently bought out.

“So, I don’t know what the future holds. So this gives me the opportunity to have my foot in the door,” Mock said.

The dealer course that Mock, McCauley and Williamson will have to take costs $200, and the casino will reimburse them once they’ve successfully completed it.

Casino general manager Ameet Patel said the average completion rate for these classes is between 70 and 80 percent.

“I think the process is a big part of it. If you commit to looking for an online application; if you commit to coming here on your scheduled time, on time, if you commit to panel interviews; if you commit to a dealer school, chances are, your commitment level is very high,” Patel said.

Many of those who applied for Hollywood Casino jobs say they also applied for positions at the Scioto Downs Casino, which is expected to offer video lottery terminals.

Each job opening at the West Side casino has a different skill set and qualification except for one criterion: applicants must be non-smokers.

Bob Tenenbaum speaks for Penn National Gaming which owns the casino as well as one in Toledo expected to open this year. Tenenbaum said the Ohio casinos will be smoke-free.

“It’s also part of Penn National’s employee wellness program which includes on-site workout facilities and other health programs for the employees, and it’s simply an extension of that,” Tenenbaum said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports about 23 percent of Ohio adults smoke.

But The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company in Marysville saw a sharp decline in employees who smoked after it required them to kick the habit and began hiring only non-smokers about five years ago. Spokesperson Jim King said before the policy about one-third of employees lit up. Today, he said, that number is almost nothing.

During the same time Scotts implemented its rule, The Cleveland Clinic also stopped hiring smokers. The hospital, though, offers a free cessation course for potential new hires that test positive for nicotine and lets them re-apply for the job in 90 days.

But if you want to work at the West Side casino it’s best to snuff out the habit before you apply.

“That’s the message, yes…Anybody who’s thinking of applying for a position at Penn National, certainly in Columbus, has plenty of time, if they are a smoker and they want to apply, to quit smoking,” he said.

The company will start the hiring process this summer.