Page 78 - City of San Jose - DD of Gaming - AMB 05 23 19

Joshua Couzens

Please describe the ways in which you determine whether your organization is operating efficiently and effectively. How do you
implement changes to departmental policy if needed?
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
11:01 AM
N/A

CSJPD
Please describe a complex situation in which you have received pushback from a party that you were attempting to regulate or
Deputy Director of Gaming audit and how you handled it.
Screening Interview Questions
This happens from time to time. Here's one where I had a patron complaining about how a promotion was being run. One of

our rule is that if they ask to speak with a gaming agent they have to involve us. In this situation I needed to check some surveil-
lance. I had to ask the player surveillance manager. The manager left - when I got back out onto the gaming floor the patron was
General Questions screaming at me. I smoothed it over with the patron, took the service manager's side later and said look, if you told me you are
going to stay with someone, please stay there. What we are trying to do here - that was some pushback because she said we
Why are you interested in the Deputy Director of Gaming opportunity with the City of San Jose? Tell me a bit about what you were taking care of it - I don't like to leave people alone and in the dark. It kind of diffused the situation, to be honest with you,
know about the City. Why are you looking? I'm very good at working with the casino to calm situations down and be objective. In my situation you have the advantage of
being a truly objective employee. We just look at the facts and come back with a fair determination. I always felt that was one of
my better skills.
Have been regulating casinos in Pennsylvania for 9 years, love the work. I'm interested in the position because it looks like an
exciting new challenge and I am looking to progress my career. I have only worked with the Pennsylvania Control Board and I am
looking for a position outside of it. When I read the description in the brochure I saw that a lot of the items are what I do on a In terms of communication, what is your approach to working with various stakeholders, such as management, staff, and the
daily basis. What do I know about San Jose? I don't know a lot about San Jose or California. I'm an east coast guy but definitely people you are regulating.
open to new and exciting places.

My approach, and I feel that it has been very successful for me, is whenever I come into a situation where upper management
wants something to be arranged, or something similar to the patron situation that I explained before, I always want to listen. If
Please describe your most recent position and day-to-day responsibilities. you let someone really go into detail about what they're expressing, you're able to achieve two things. You are able to map out
the best course for action, I can then go and explain. We don't look at it like we are trying to obstruct the casino, we are trying to
help them do the business they want to do. We are also generating tax revenue. I can't speak to how it is done in California, but
they pay absorbent fees for licenses. We make more money off the slot machines than they do. I'm not trying to let them violate
I am a casino compliance agent for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which has twelve full-service casinos. We have 24/7 internal controls. Most of the time we are able to find accurate resolutions that don't hold up projects.
regulatory staff. I started with the Pennsylvania Control Board working the nightshift there on the weekends for three and a half
years, and then was able to transfer to an earlier shift with one of the largest casinos on the east coast.
Closing

We have upwards of 200 card games, 6300 slot machines, sports betting. I regulate all aspects of gaming, I am there in the cages,
boxes. I also regulate any kind of major cash transactions - is there filling of money at the cage, chip fills, they need my authoriza-
tion. They have to call me to allow me the opportunity to observe that. We regulate with a very serious expectation that any and 10. Is there anything else you would like to add?
all matters of gaming - they notify us and tell us what we're doing. I am also involved in any criminal activity that would impact
an employee's license status. We usually get Jnet notifications that a person has been arrested. A lot of it is DUIs, we will add
an amendment to there license. I am part of a 10 person team - there are nine other people doing the same thing on a day to
day basis. We check the meters, learn how much money is in and out the slot machine. We know how much money is going in
and out in real time for every slot machine. I will take meters manually if necessary and send to offices in new york so they can 11. If out of the area – Are you willing to relocate to the San Jose Area?
record them and let us know when the machine comes back online. I monitor security and surveillance activities, walk the casino
floor to make sure casino and table games are being operated in the way that we expect.
It's something that we discussed and we are actually at a pretty flexible point in our lives. Our daughter is starting kindergarten
in the fall, she is going to be changing schools regardless. A relocation works for us.

How many employees do you supervise? Who do you report to? What are the areas that you regulate?

Overall
I don't supervise any of the staff. The experience that I would have is limited to working with the casino to handle matters. They
look at us as positions of authority, how we want them to do certain things. No reports. I report to the casino compliance super-
visor. We had the regional supervisor who was my boss until about a week ago. Generally has the same type of position that I I Know they are looking for someone with more supervisory experience, but I know everything that needs to be done in terms of
have, but not as much day to day stuff, more scheduling and making sure that we have coverage. There always has to be some- regulating. The games are not banked in California, we have $12m in reserve for the casinos.
body there, managing overtime and stuff like that.

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