Atlantic City's unemployment rate is about 13 percent, compared to the national average of 5.8 percent, Neils said. When the Sands Casino Hotel shut down in 2006, about 2,200 employees were thrown out of work. Tropicana Casino and Resort cut about 900 jobs last year after a new owner took control.

"A lot of people have left the industry and are looking to get back in," said Beth Joseph, of Masterpiece Advertising, an Atlantic City public relations firm that represents Hard Rock.

The country's economic slowdown resulting in mass layoffs in the financial and housing sectors could push even more workers into the Florida casino industry.

"We're providing great opportunities for people who can't get work," Neils said.

The Seminoles, an American-Indian tribe that controls the Hard Rock gaming empire, primarily are looking for 3,650 casino dealers. The Seminole casinos are preparing to introduce table games in June under a compact with the Florida state government. Hard Rock has another 350 positions open for casino floor supervisors, pit managers, shift managers, credit managers, administrators and clerks.

The Seminole-owned casinos offer all of their employees free training, parking and meals. As an extra incentive, the Seminoles pay for 100 percent of their workers' medical, pharmacy and vision coverage, a Hard Rock press release said.

The Atlantic City job fair is the first stop Hard Rock will make in the country's major gaming markets. Connecticut and Mississippi are next and Las Vegas is a possibility, according to Neils.

Forming long lines, between 2,500 and 3,000 job seekers crowded into an interview room Tuesday at the Atlantic City Convention Center. Applicants were screened with a set of interviews, given drug tests and also fingerprinted.

"The next step is just the phone call," Joseph said of Hard Rock's intention to quickly hire as many employees as possible.

One job seeker, Rick Bechtel, who owns a Dairy Queen store in Somers Point, said he hopes to return to the casino industry after an 11-year hiatus. Bechtel, 47, of Egg Harbor Township, started in the casino business in 1980 as a bar porter and worked his way through the ranks to become a slot marketing representative at Bally's.

"I want to be a table games supervisor or a slot host," Bechtel said while filling out a Hard Rock application. "I have had enough of self-employment."

Bechtel is selling his Dairy Queen store after 10 years in business. He complained that New Jersey's regulatory requirements have dramatically increased the costs for small business owners.

Now Bechtel looks forward to working in Florida, where he already has a house in Palm Beach Gardens. He noted that his wife, Diane, and 7-year-old daughter, Shannon, are ready to relocate.

"They really want to be in Florida," he said.

To e-mail Donald Wittkowski at The Press:

DWittkowski@pressofac.com