Ahead of the opening of its MGM Springfield casino resort in Massachusetts, MGM Resorts International has announced plans to establish a nearby casino gambling floor staff and table games dealer school while additionally giving local residents the chance to train for culinary careers.

Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts International revealed that the scheme is based on a similar program operated by its soon-to-open MGM National Harbor development in Maryland and will be run in partnership with a pair of local community colleges.

The $950 million MGM Springfield is scheduled to open in 2018 and could require up to 1,000 full-time staff in its gaming department alone encompassing dealers, security staff and technicians to repair and maintain its vast estate of slot machines.

MGM Resorts International declared that it will use a portion of its previously negotiated annual payments to fund the training programs, which will see 50 students a year sent for instruction at a new downtown culinary arts center from next summer.

“The gaming training is more specialized,” Mike Mathis, President and Chief Operating Officer for MGM Springfield, told the MassLive.com news service. “The culinary students can go and get jobs anywhere in our local food-service industry.”

MGM Resorts International explained that its Springfield casino gambling floor staff and table games dealer school is expected to open near the site of the coming casino resort around September of 2017 with both programs being run primarily by Springfield Community College and Holyoke Community College as part of their Training And Workforce Options (TWO) scheme, which helps companies and industries develop skilled employees in the absence of two or four-year university degrees.

“This is going to be it,” Warren Leigh, a chef at Holyoke Community College, told MassLive.com. “This should be the place for people to get professional development.”

Mathis declared that those hoping to work as a MGM Springfield dealer must be able to proficiently run at least two games simultaneously while disclosing that dealer training at Atlantic Cape Community College near Atlantic City, New Jersey, also involves instruction in customer service as well as security and game protection measures.