On the face it, being a casino dealer or croupier looks to be a fantastic job – mixing with the monied and the well-heeled in the most sophisticated of surroundings.
Of course, it’s not always that way, and there are no doubt dealers reading this who work in inner city casinos, spending their evenings trying desperately to explain the rules of blackjack to stag and hen party members.
If working in a casino sounds like it might appeal, the good news is that the door is open for people from all walks of life and backgrounds – you will need a head for numbers, naturally, but there are other transferable skills that will come in just as handy.
So you want to be a casino dealer/croupier? Read on to find out everything you need to know….
What Does a Casino Croupier Do?
When you frequent your local casino or a gaming establishment on your holidays, you will quickly notice that the croupiers and dealers are perhaps the most important people in the building.
They are the ones that keep the action flowing, whether it’s at the blackjack table or roulette wheel, and their expertise is such that they are able to juggle multiple tasks – such as taking bets and upholding the rules of their game – simultaneously, and most players won’t even notice them.
The dealer also acts as the de facto customer service representative for the casino, providing a public face for the organisation. As such, you may be called upon to deal with enquiries from players on the casino floor, and – unfortunately it seems inevitable – also handling complaints as the first point of contact.
The role of the dealer/croupier is constantly evolving, and you may find yourself employed by a company that wants you to get involved in online games. These require you to oversee the action in a working casino, dealing the cards and spinning the wheel for players watching on from home.
Acting as a dealer in this live casino environment isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but it may well prove fruitful for you to have different strings to your bow as you look to progress and advance in the industry.
What Qualifications Do You Need to Be a Casino Dealer?
Generally speaking, you do not need a specific formal qualification to become a casino dealer.
It goes without saying that a recruiter will look at the qualifications you gained in school or college as a guide, with a maths GCSE (or equivalent outside of England) a very handy starting point given how much mental arithmetic you will need to be able to do in a short timeframe while on the casino floor.
In lieu of specific qualifications, your employer is likely to enrol you on a training programme, which will be carried out either in-house or with a dedicated agency.
This will arm you with the practical skills of becoming a croupier, so that you understand each game on the floor inside and out. You will learn key terminology, you will be taught how to settle bets and you are likely to be given an overview of how to spot both advantage players and those trying to cheat – neither of whom are particularly desirable from the casino’s point of view.
You will also be given technical training in how to communicate with your fellow casino staff without causing suspicion. So, if you have a player at your table that appears to be counting cards or adopting some other questionable tactic, you will be taught how to interact with your pit boss without causing alarm.
These training programmes can last for anything from three months to a year (don’t worry, you will be paid for your time), and after passing an assessment and probation period, you will finally be let loose on the casino floor.
What Experience Do You Need to Be a Casino Dealer?
Thanks to the comprehensive training programmes that most casinos put their staff through, you won’t actually need any prior experience in the casino environment in order to land a job as a dealer.
Mind you, it clearly won’t harm your chances of securing an interview, so if you definitely want to pursue a career as a dealer/croupier, why not contact your local casino to see if you can set up some unpaid work experience? That could make all the difference.
The most important piece of work experience you can bring to the table is any job that involves working with people. Any role in customer service – it could be at a call centre, in retail or even hospitality – will let your prospective employers in the casino sector know that you have experience of communicating with members of the public, which is vital for a croupier.
They say that the best casino dealers are those that actually enjoy playing blackjack, roulette and the like themselves, and so any experience you have in the casino as a punter will also be taken into consideration.
What Skills Do You Need to Be a Casino Dealer?
As a public facing role, it goes without saying that you will need to be something of a people-person in order to thrive in the casino environment.
Your job is to help create a welcoming, fun but professional ambience at your table, and one that encourages players to stick around for the long haul. If you can achieve that, you will likely benefit personally in terms of being tipped – more on that shortly.
So strong communication skills are essential, whether that’s explaining the rules of the game to said stag parties or simply interacting with patrons – for some, the casino is a social experience as much as it is a gambling one.
It goes without saying that you’ll need to be effective when it comes to mental arithmetic, as you will be required to settle bets quickly and efficiently many times every hour. You will also need to be able to concentrate for long periods, to help ensure that mistakes don’t creep into your work and infuriate customers or cost the casino money.
You will need to be skilled in the technical aspects of running a casino table, which includes knowing every single facet of your game – ensuring that rules are upheld at all times, and being able to assist security and pit bosses in spotting fraudulent or suspicious players/betting patterns.
You will need to be presentable – most casinos will provide you with a uniform to wear, and you will also need to be versatile in the hours that you work. Many venues use a rotating shift pattern of days, nights and weekends, so you will have to accept that your work-life balance could be thrown out of kilter.
And while often overlooked, you’ll need a certain level of physical fitness too. Whether you choose to deal while sat or standing, you will still be constantly on the move for shifts of up to eight hours at a time – stamina and focus will also prove important.
How Much Do Casino Dealers Make?
The annual salary of a casino dealer varies from one location to the next. So, in the big cities like Birmingham and Manchester you can earn around £9 per hour, with the usual stipend on top for those in London.
For casinos in smaller towns of the UK, you might start on a wage of around £8.30 per hour.
That might sound quite low to some, but remember your earning potential is bolstered by tips – many players will leave cash or chips for their croupier at the end of a gaming session.
Clearly, there’s no guarantee of how much you will be tipped, and these will be shared amongst the rest of the casino’s team, but it’s not uncommon for some dealers to double their money for the night from tips.
In the US, dealers tend to earn more, and some reports suggest that the median salary for a croupier in America, with tips added, is around the $83,000 mark (£71,000). That seems excessively high, and something in the region of $40,000 is more likely.
That is a markedly higher wage than in the UK, although it should be said that the casino brand, size of the venue and its location will all play a part in how much a dealer takes home. At the Morongo Casino Resort in California, the average hourly wage is some $27.76 (around £24).