Casino Dealer Stories Reddit
Jul 11, 2019 Compared to some jobs, being a casino dealer might be a great deal. As casino gambling continues to grow across the nation, more jobs become available, and fewer potential employees are out there to fill those jobs. This means wages are climbing, too. This post examines how much you can expect to make as a casino dealer, tips and all. Stayed at the old imperial palace put down the $500 and dealer said ' money plays $500' First card a 5 not good. Second card another 5 great. Dealer flips a 4. Friends all dig in there pockets so I can double down dealer says ' money play double down' After I put in another $500 I borrowed. Double down card a king for total of 20.
Just guessing here, but I would imagine that working in a casino would be one of the more depressing jobs you could have unless you were in the upper level of the business. The average casino worker spends hours surrounded by the lights and unyielding noise of the slot machines, with no windows to the outside world, and are in constant contact with so many people desperately gambling and trying to win money who inevitably lose everything they’ve wagered. Depressing.
So when I saw a Reddit thread that asked casino workers to share the saddest moments they have ever witnessed, I figured it was going to be filled with some seriously bummer sh*t.
Turns out I wasn’t completely right. Mostly, but not completely.
A former poker dealer at a casino shared a particularly horrible story that will certainly test your faith in humanity.
An older gentleman started to have a heart attack at the table. I called the floor person for assistance with the call button. Paramedics are rushed in etc. all within minutes. I’m this instance I am instructed to keep the game rolling by the floor person as he whispered in my ear.
Two hands are dealt and played and a player at the table requested the heart attack guy get moved somewhere else as it is disrupting the game. Another player asked to have his chips picked up and call for the “open seat” because “we have a wait list.”
I was disgusted.
I’m disgusted just reading about it.
A former valet at a casino tells this story…
The amount of daily regulars who drove barely functioning vehicles full of trash, roaches, and rats who would actually valet their car and go gamble away any money they had to their name was honestly depressing.
The saddest I remember was a 90+ year old lady who drove a 91 corolla and when we got in her car we realized she had no power steering fluid at all and her steering wheel would barely turn. I have no earthly idea how her frail arms could turn it. We went and bought her some before she left that evening.
Here are a couple of more typical stories…
During my 8 hour shift a gentleman won $15,000 on a slot machine. Punched out at end of shift and had the next two days off. Returned to work after my weekend to find the man still sitting at the same slot machine. He had been there for 2+ days losing $15,000.
That is the definition of sad.
There were these two middle aged Greek or Cypriot ladies who were ALWAYS on the slot machines, every day when I started my shift they were they and they were there when I finished 10 hours later. And still there in the same clothes the next day oftentimes. They were SUPER nice and always polite to the staff. One day they hit the jackpot and win big, I think it was either £15k or £45k, it was a good few years ago now.
Everyone was overjoyed for them – except the managers obviously. Well the managers then gave them free meals at the restaurant and an open bar tab until every single penny of that money was clawed back into the casino.
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This next one is pretty disgusting, but the comments that follow are even worse.
My mom works as a dealer at a casino and has told me multiple stories of grown men wearing adult diapers at the table so they don’t have to leave to use the restroom.
Comment: As a Vegas regular I can attest it is orders of magnitude worse when they do not wear the diapers.
Comment: Oh totally. I worked at a casino in FL for a few years and saw a lot of these people. One guy sat at a slot machine for over 24 hours just pissing in his pants. There was so much piss on the floor that the casino eventually called the Seminole Police Department to come get him. I was just outside the doors when they were escorting him out and I heard him ask, “Why the hell do I have to leave?” The SPD officer replied, “Sir, you’ve urinated in your pants numerous times.” The guy then yelled out, “So what! I own these pants! They’re my pants to piss in!!!”
“They’re my pants to piss in!” is my new mantra. Also, I will never sit at a slot machine again for the rest of my life.
pixabay
Here’s one filled with some timely holiday cheer…
It’s been about 15 years, but I worked in one for about 4 years.The one that stands out was a woman who came from the country to the “big” city to get X-Mas gifts for the whole family (including young kids who still beleived in Santa and all of that), but spent all of the Christmas money at the casino before going to the mall.
As one commenter who works in surveillance so astutely pointed out, “Casinos don’t invite the best kind of people.” Here’s an example of that.
We had to evacuate and close down for the rest of the day due to a burst pipe causing no running water. When I walked outside there was an elderly lady throwing a legit tantrum in the parking lot, she was on the ground kicking and screaming, her screams sounded like something you’d expect from someone who’d just lost a family member, not someone who had to leave the casino for a few hours. I left but some of the security who were dealing with her told me later she was too upset to drive home and they had to call a family member to pick her up.
And finally, just in case you still had the slightest shred of hope left for society.
I did casino security for 3 years before I became a police officer. Had a Code M (medical) early early one morning, around 4 or 5am. Old guy in his 80’s passed out and fell out of his chair, wife sitting next to him. I was the first to get to him, did a quick assessment and found he didn’t have a pulse, immediately started CPR. The old lady looked over and said “oh he does this all the time, don’t worry about him.” Between chest compressions, I told her he wasn’t breathing and she just kept playing her a lot machine. She didn’t miss a spin even when the paramedics took him away. I saw her again the next night and asked how he was doing. With the straightest face ever, she said, “oh he never woke up. I’m sure he’s in a freezer by now”… and went right back to the same machine she was playing the night before.
By the way, I left out the most depressing stories, if you can believe it, so if you feel like checking those out, please feel free to click here.
Do you love the casino scene?
Does being a casino dealer seem like the perfect blend of glamour, excitement, and fun?
At first glance, being a dealer at a casino might seem like the perfect job. After all, you probably already enjoy the games you’ll be playing. And you will be getting paid to play them.
You don’t even have to risk losing any money while you play. The casino is banking all the action.
As a casino dealer, the amount you win for the house has no bearing on your pay, though. You get an hourly wage plus tips.
Compared to some jobs, being a casino dealer might be a great deal. As casino gambling continues to grow across the nation, more jobs become available, and fewer potential employees are out there to fill those jobs. This means wages are climbing, too.
This post examines how much you can expect to make as a casino dealer, tips and all.
What Is the Average Wage for a Casino Dealer?
Your average wage as a casino dealer isn’t impressive at all. It’s a service industry, so when you calculate how much you’ll make, you need to take the same kind of mindset that waitresses and bartenders take:
How much money you make is based more on tips than on your hourly wage.
And the better you serve your customers, the more they’ll tip.
In other words, if you’re not a people person, becoming a casino dealer might not be a great idea.
The hourly wages for casino dealers don’t vary based on the game, either. Blackjack dealers make the same kind of money as baccarat dealers, who make the same kind of money as poker dealers or roulette dealers (or croupiers, as they’re called).
The starting pay for an average casino dealer is between $8 and $10 per hour. Some of that is based on experience, too.
If you’re able to get 40 hours a week, which is unusual, you’re looking at $16,000 to $20,000 per year. Most casino dealers, especially starting out, don’t get 40 hours a week, though.
That’s barely enough to pay the rent if you have a roommate and live in a cheap apartment.
Depending on the casino and the stakes of the games you’re dealing, you can expect to make anywhere from $15 per hour in tips to $50 per hour in tips, on average.
That $50 per hour figure, by the way, is an outlier statistic. This assumes you’re working at a high-end casino dealing the higher-limit casino games to the high rollers.
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Even then, some high rollers don’t tip — or if they tip, they don’t tip well at all.
Poker dealers make the most money from tips on the most consistent basis, but a lot of this depends on people skills. In some casinos, the dealers are required to pool their tips.
I once played at a casino in Las Vegas with an older poker dealer named Boris. He got mad at me for saying the words “Carpe diem” at the table. He said that I was only allowed to speak English at the table.
Being a friendly guy, I smiled and explained to everyone at the table that the phrase is Latin for “seize the day.”
Boris didn’t think that was helpful, either. He was surly and rude.
As a result, I didn’t tip him.
I shared the story with a professional poker player friend of mine, and he told me that he would have raised hell with the cardroom manager until Boris had been fired.
And the thing is… I don’t mind a little correction. In fact, I’m a humble guy. Had he been reasonably friendly and polite about it, I would have continued to tip him. So it goes.
Also, just because you’re dealing a higher-stakes poker game doesn’t mean you’ll make more in tips. Some of the high-rolling poker players are notorious cheapskates. If you’re dealing high-roller blackjack, craps, or roulette, you’ll do a lot better than if you’re dealing high-limit hold’em.
According to Glassdoor, the average wages for dealers and related jobs are all over the place. They suggest that the average dealer makes $40,000 a year. They also suggest that an average poker dealer only makes $20,000 a year.
Other related jobs include the floor supervisor, with an average salary of $53,000 a year, a casino host, with an average salary of $35,000 a year, and a casino shift manager, with an average salary of $27,000 a year.
The site also lists salaries by company, and it looks like Caesars is the best place to be a dealer, with a salary of $42,000.
Indeed.com has more survey results and suggests an average of $15/hour, which equates to $30,000 a year. They had a listing for a dealer position in Black Hawk, Colorado, where the starting pay was $38/hour. That’s $76,000 a year.
ZipRecruiter suggests that top dealers make $400,000 a year, but I can’t imagine that’s accurate. The rest of their averages are in line with what I saw on the other sites mentioned.
The Perks and Drawbacks of Being a Casino Dealer as a Career
If you know anything about the service business, you probably know that dealing with the customers can be the biggest perk and the biggest drawback to your job. This is especially true in the casino business, though, because emotions tend to be amped up when money is on the line.
You’ll probably spend a lot of time on your feet if you’re dealing table games in the casino. If you’re dealing poker in the cardroom, you’ll probably need to bring a pillow for some extra cushioning at your chair.
One of the other drawbacks of being a casino dealer is that it turns what used to be a leisure activity into a work activity. Playing blackjack is great when you get to do it a couple of times a year for a few hours at a time.
But after dealing blackjack for 30 hours a week for six weeks straight, it becomes drudgery.
In most casinos, smoking is still allowed. That might or might not bother you. I’ve spent enough time in bars and AA meetings that cigarette smoke doesn’t bother me at all, but I’m not like most people.
One of the perks of dealing casino games is that it doesn’t require a degree. You can go to a vocational school to become a dealer, though, but the time and financial commitments are smaller than with other careers. You can usually be qualified to be a casino dealer after a couple of months and an investment of $1,000.
If you’re a night owl, or if you’re looking for a second job — we used to call it “moonlighting” — casino dealing might be perfect for you. After all, most casinos are open 24/7. And guess which shifts are the hardest ones for the managers to cover.
Most casinos are owned by large companies with human resources departments. This means that you’ll probably be eligible for a benefits package. These can include health insurance and retirement benefits, as well as paid time off.
Breaks are longer for casino dealers than you’ll see at other jobs. At most casinos, you work for 90 minutes and then take a 30-minute break. During an eight-hour shift, you get a total of two hours of break time.
If you like having stories to tell, being a casino dealer puts you in a position to have lots of anecdotes. Heck, I have quite a reputation as a raconteur just from the stories I have to tell by being a player. And believe me, I haven’t spent THAT much time gambling in casinos — not compared to someone who deals for a living, anyway.
What Are Your Job Responsibilities as a Casino Dealer?
Think of the dealer as the host for a specific game. The dealer shuffles and deals the cards, or spins the roulette wheel, or directs the action at the craps table. The dealer also trades chips for money.
If you’re a poker dealer, you’re responsible for collecting the rake. It’s your job to make sure the players post their blinds.
If you’re dealing a casino game, you collect the players’ losses and pay out their winnings in chips.
It’s traditional to start your career dealing blackjack because that’s the most popular table game.
But in Europe, it’s more likely that you’ll start as a croupier — that’s the fancy name for the dealer running the roulette game.
The dice table is the toughest table game to be a dealer. Even after writing about craps for years, I still have to look things up. The action is fast, there are lots of bets on the table, and there’s just a lot to keep up with. Craps is the last game most dealers learn.
You’re responsible for maintaining your own gambling license, too. It’s similar to having a driver’s license if you’re going to drive for a company or a food handler’s permit if you’re going to cook for people.
If you have lousy credit and/or a criminal record, you might run into trouble getting your license.
By the way, I have a lady friend who dealt blackjack for years. She’s clueless when it comes to basic strategy. You’re not required to learn the correct strategies for the games you deal.
Casino Dealer Stories Reddit Fantasy
My advice to prospective dealers is to avoid giving advice to players. That’s a no-win situation because the players are going to lose their money in the long run because of the nature of the games. If they followed your advice, they’ll just blame you for this.
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Who needs that kind of headache?
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Conclusion
Casino Dealer Stories Reddit Games
If you like people, enjoy casino games, and don’t mind cigarette smoke, becoming a casino dealer might be the career for you. You don’t get to keep the money the players lose, but they’ll often tip you when they’re winning, so you’ll get to root for them.
You’ll make at least $15,000 a year dealing casino games, but you might make as much as $100,000 a year. I’ve seen reports of dealers who made more, but I’m skeptical, and you should be, too.
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