For most visitors, the drama of the Casino de Monte-Carlo unfolds beneath glittering chandeliers, where roulette wheels spin and the cards glide across green baize while fortunes can change in an instant.
But away from the gaming tables, another contest has been quietly proving that the world’s most famous casino is also home to some of Europe’s most accomplished gaming professionals.
At this year’s European Dealer Championship, held in Baden-Baden, Germany, from 8 to 10 June, two representatives from the Casino de Monte-Carlo transformed years of meticulous training into one of the competition’s standout performances, reinforcing Monaco’s reputation for excellence behind the table as much as in front of it.
Competing against almost 40 of Europe’s finest dealers from around 20 countries, Manon Martire earned an outstanding third-place finish in the overall championship, placing her among the continent’s elite dealers. The title ultimately went to Germany’s Temin Joguncic, with fellow German Robin Stepanek finishing second.
If Martire demonstrated consistency under pressure, colleague Christopher Elena delivered a masterclass in technical precision.
He captured the championship’s two most demanding technical distinctions, Best Push Stacks and Best Chip Cutting, disciplines that reward flawless chip control, speed and accuracy. Those awards highlighted the dexterity required of top-class dealers, where movements measured in millimetres separate excellence from merely good performance.
Together, the results marked one of the strongest collective performances by Casino de Monte-Carlo in recent years.
More Than Luck
Success in dealer championships has little to do with chance.
Competitors are judged on mathematical accuracy, speed, chip handling, card management, technical execution, customer interaction and composure under intense scrutiny. Every gesture is evaluated. Every movement counts.
It is a competition that rewards discipline rather than instinct, a philosophy that mirrors Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer’s approach to developing its gaming staff.
An Academy Preserving a 163-Year Tradition
Behind these achievements lies the Monte-Carlo SBM Academy, whose gaming school has become one of the group’s most valuable investments in safeguarding its heritage.
Created in 2014 under the direction of Christophe Teissier and today managed by training manager Alexis Schroeter alongside coordinator Jean-René Manfredi, the Academy teaches six core casino games, including blackjack, European roulette, English roulette, craps, Punto Banco and Ultimate Texas Hold’em.
Perhaps most remarkably, applicants require no previous casino experience.
Instead, the Academy identifies potential, then develops it internally, passing specialist knowledge from experienced professionals to a new generation of dealers, continuing a tradition that stretches back to the opening of the Casino de Monte-Carlo in 1863.
In an era when many industries struggle to preserve specialist craftsmanship, Monte-Carlo’s gaming school has become something of a modern apprenticeship, ensuring that one of the Principality’s most recognisable institutions continues to deliver the standards for which it has long been renowned.
Excellence Becoming Habit
This latest success is far from an isolated achievement.
Monte-Carlo SBM has steadily built a reputation for excellence across Europe’s casino industry in recent years. The group celebrated Noémie Serra’s European Dealer Championship victory in 2024, earned recognition as Best Slot Machine Team in 2025, and added another prestigious honour in January when it received the Best Overall Casino 2026 award at the European Casino Awards in Barcelona.
Together, those accolades paint a broader picture.
Visitors may come to the Casino de Monte-Carlo for its glamour, architecture and history. Yet beneath the elegance lies something equally valuable: a commitment to professional excellence that continues to earn recognition from the industry’s toughest judges, its own peers.
