Photo: Kaitlin Parker

But Fernandez isn’t playing. He’s dealing—or training to, anyway. He’s one of dozens of students enrolled at Casino College, here, hoping to one day graduate to the big time in Las Vegas.

"I like the bright lights and the bling, bling," says the 50-year-old Fernandez. "I’m going to try and move to Vegas. If my family wants to come with me, they're welcome to, and if not, well, I guess they won't."

Fernandez’s story is a sadly familiar one in Southern California. He lost his 23-year job servicing refrigerators for 7-Eleven in 2005 and then lost two houses after a failed attempt to start his own refrigeration business. "I'm like dirt now," he said.

Read the rest of Kaitlin Parker's story here on American Public Media's Marketplace.