Presque Isle Downs & Casino is training more prospective dealers as it gets ready for what it expects to be a busy summer season.

The casino chip will hire 50 people who make the cut during the eight-week course that started earlier this month.

The casino also could be training more people soon for a possible expansion of its table games offerings.

Kevin Ryan, Presque Isle Downs' director of table games, said the casino has notified two state agencies that it is interested in adding a poker room, "and we're waiting for direction from them.''

Those agencies are the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, which regulates the state's casino industry, and the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission, which represents thoroughbred horse racing.

In a poker room, gamblers play against one another, as opposed to playing against a dealer.

Ryan said he couldn't speculate about whether the casino would hire more dealers for a poker room or comment further until hearing from the state agencies.

The Gaming Control Board would have to approve any changes or additions to the casino floor, said Richard McGarvey, a spokesman for the board.

McGarvey said the board has heard that Presque Isle Downs wants to put in a poker room, but it hasn't yet received a formal petition that would spell out the details.

Approval wouldn't seem to be an issue, based on previous comments from a Gaming Control Board official.

During a visit to Erie in early March, Kevin O'Toole, the board's executive director, said the Erie-area casino was evaluating its space for a possible poker room. The casino already has some poker games, such as Texas Hold 'em, in which gamblers play against a dealer.

"I think Presque Isle will find a spot to put in some poker tables," O'Toole told the Erie Times-News then.

Meanwhile, 70 potential dealers are being trained on blackjack, three-card poker, Let it Ride (a poker variation) and Texas Hold 'em at the former Downs at Erie off-track betting parlor on upper Peach Street. Those are some of the 48 table games now offered at Presque Isle Downs. They are not being trained now on craps and roulette.

The casino will hire 50 trainees who pass the free eight-week course, which started May 2, along with an audition, said casino poker set spokeswoman Jennifer See. The Gaming Control Board also would have to approve their respective gaming licenses for employment, she said.

The new hires will be added to the 146 full-time and 32 part-time dealers already at the casino, See said. They will be kept on permanently, she said.

Dealers get starting base pay of $4 an hour plus tips, along with benefits.

Ryan said the number of trainees in the dealer school is the largest since the casino's first school started with 438 applicants one year ago.

"We're always excited to be able to put people to work in Erie,'' he said.