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Breda, 12 May 2015 ---- First time competitor Ray de Rozario from Holland Casino, went straight into the finals of the 10th edition of the European Dealer Championship that was held on May 11 and 12 at Casino Breda, The Netherlands.
In an unusual outcome never seen before in any dealer championship final, whereby two competitors from the same country went head to head, Ray triumphed and won over his colleague from Holland Casino, Ted Bakker both of them finishing with the same score of 4314 points. As there can only be one European champion it was nuances in the communication with the players that made the difference at the end and convinced the jury in the finals. The title came also with a first place cash award of EUR 3000,- sponsored by Scientific Games
Ray de Rozario’s 5 opponents in the final round all added to an excellent fight for first place. The ranking at the end was, Ray de Rozario from Holland Casino Rotterdam, Ted Bakker from Holland Casino Scheveningen, The Netherlands, Jannick Nielsen from
Casino Copenhagen, Demark, Saverio Angel from Casino St. Moritz , Switzerland, Sanda Jevtic from Grand Casino Beograd, Serbia and Dina Kasparane from Olympic Casino,Latvia.
32 participants from 19 European countries participated in the 3 rounds observed by a total of some 29 judges. Dealers were not only rated by their technical skills and control of the game, but also by their hospitality, service and the pleasant atmosphere that theywere able to create during the game.
The members of ECA, and especially the organisers of the EDC, would also like to extend their sincerest congratulations to the winners of this year’s side events. The awards for “Best Card Handler” went to Katja Zupancic from Slovenia Best in “Cutting Chips” went to Ray de Rozario from Netherlands. Karolina Niemas from Poland won the “Roulette Mathematics” and Michal Jarošek from Czech Republic won the "best chipper" award and the Award for “pushing Stacks”. These side competitions measure just a few of the necessary skills involved in being an outstanding dealer.
Given the magnitude of such an event, its success was only possible thanks to the collaboration of many people and organisations. Per Jaldung, Chairman of ECA, took the floor during the final celebration. This year’s event owes its own unique mix of incredible hospitality and contagious enthusiasm to our gracious host Erwin van Lambaart, CEO of Holland Casino, and his dedicated team at the Casino in Breda. Furthermore, since its debut, this event owes its seamless operation and increasing significance in the casino community to the excellent work of the organising team, this year for the first time consisting of Sandra Sturgess Person from Casino Cosmopol and Jaana Ruokamo from Casino Helsinki.
The ECA Chairman, Per Jaldung also thanked the event sponsors and their long time support for the ECA European Dealer Championship; Scientific Games, AGEM, CLS, CTC Holdings, GPI, ICSE, Gaming Support, Heineken and Abbiati. Without them, the event would not have been possible. “Following this, I can proudly declare that the ECA brings the European casino industry together, and through events such as the EDC even more so in real life. We are all looking forward to next year’s event at the Hippodrome Casino in London.”
About the ECA
The European Casino Association (ECA) represents the interests of approximately 900 casinos and over 70,000 employees across Europe. Founded in the early 1990s as the European Casino Forum, the ECA has progressively grown over the years and today includes 25 members from the majority of the EU’s Member States, Switzerland, Serbia and San Marino.
