Quality is the cornerstone of success in any business and is perceived to be a key factor in acquiring and sustaining competitive advantage. Good service quality can be enhanced by managing the performance of employees, especially front-line personnel, by first understanding their attitudes and job perceptions. The exploratory study reported herein investigates the job perceptions of casino dealers in Macao via in-depth face-to-face interviews with 51 such dealers. The perceived barriers prohibiting them from delivering quality service are identified, and they include the lack of a fair and transparent reward and promotion system, serious communication difficulties and conflicts due to cultural differences, the language barriers amongst local dealers and foreign supervisors, feelings of job insecurity attributed to the economic downturn and the influx of imported labour, and poor internal communication. The implications for the development of quality casino services are also discussed in this paper. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.