Natalie Chan collected bets, dealt cards and calculated payoffs. She was not a croupier working in a Macau casino — in fact, at 20, she was not even old enough to be on the gambling floor at the glitzy casinos just a short walk from campus.

But she is learning the tricks of the trade through a program meant to train Macau residents to run the hotels and casinos that have made this city Asia’s answer to Las Vegas. Last summer, Ms. Chan completed a dealer training course on a mock casino floor, in a room equipped with roulette wheels, blackjack tables and slot machines run by the Macao Polytechnic Institute’s Gaming Teaching and Research Center.

“It wasn’t as easy as I expected it to be,” said Ms. Chan, who learned how to play blackjack and baccarat. “At the end of the training, we had an assessment and I had to perform several calculations while dealing the cards. It was challenging.”

Ms. Chan is a third-year student at the University of Macau’s Hospitality and Gaming Management program, which grooms students for managerial and executive positions in the booming Macau casino and hospitality industry. Casino floor training is just one part of the course.