Casinos are wild places. They are locations like no other, locales where people experience massive highs and substantial lows. They take patrons on financial and emotional rollercoasters regardless of their skill level.
Dealers, or croupiers as they get called in specific parts of the globe, are casino employees who are in the thick of it. They are a part of the establishment’s staff running games and responsible for payouts. In most jurisdictions, these individuals have to get approved by a licensing body, which runs credit rating and police background checks on these people to determine if they are suitable to work in this sector. Venues are not allowed to hire dealers if these individuals have not gotten issued the proper license. For those wondering how to become one before reaching the licensing stage, dealers must have an in-depth understanding of the games they’ll be operating. That knowledge can be accumulated via community college programs and dedicated vocational training schools. Many high-end gaming properties also supply in-house tutelage. Veteran dealers with a decade or two of experience can expect to earn in the $50,000-$60,000 annual range, not counting tips at the more prestigious resorts in gambling hot spots like Atlantic City and Las Vegas.
On the topic of America’s favorite gaming destination, here are a few first-hand stories shared online on various platforms from people that have worked on Vegas’ floors.
A Player Sits at the Same Table for Over 24 Hours
Most laypeople don’t know that many regulators mandate that players take obligatory play breaks, or as operators call them – forced session terminations. That happens when pit bosses or other staff notice a player is overdoing it, meaning they are playing for longer than they should.
That rule gets illustrated on the internet by a former dealer who recalls getting sent to a table to face a blackjack player on a hot winning streak at 6 AM. Toward the end of said dealer’s shift, six hours later, the player was still there, gambling. At that point, an establishment manager walked up to him and told him that he had to leave the property, as it is a legal requirement that the casino not allow anyone to gamble for more than twenty-four hours in a row.
Gambler Threatens Suicide After Losing
Here is a story posted on Reddit from a dealer who worked at a Vegas casino in its VIP section. He tells the tale of one of the property’s high-rollers encountering substantial losses while in the middle of divorce proceedings. The man in question also had a bad gambling problem, and he had lost everything in one night at the establishment’s tables to the point that he could not afford a plane ticket home.
After ending his session, the man resorted to threatening suicide by jumping off the casino roof if the venue did not buy him a ticket to go home. Feeling sorry for him and not willing to risk ignoring his threats, the management did just that.
Man Dies at Blackjack Table – Others Keep Playing
Here is an anecdote found on the social question-and-answer website Quora. It was posted there on August 5th, 2022, by a man, Dale Hill, who claims he has more than fifty years of experience working at Vegas’ land-based locales.
Hill recounts seeing people die on two separate occasions at Sin City Casinos. One was an elderly lady, who was playing at a table with her family, and the second was a case of two brothers. One dropped dead at the blackjack table, and the other kept playing while waiting for authorities to remove the body of his deceased sibling.
A Casino Let a Guy Count Cards
Here is another dealer account recorded on Reddit. It is one from 2011 by a croupier that posts under the moniker TheDevilYouSay who recounts working at an enormous casino on the outskirts of town that got frequented by a charming older Asian gentleman who would dazzle the staff with jokes and his quick wit.
The gambler would bring presents for the employees and proceed to count cards at blackjack super audibly. Due to his loveable nature, managers would not only let him but cheer him on!
BetOnline Cheating Allegations
Here is an account of a scandal occurring at an online live casino. Yet, due to its uniqueness, we thought it should get mentioned.
In 2017, a video made its way onto YouTube, showing a Global Gaming Labs dealer manipulating a card dealt in a streaming blackjack game, taken from under the one meant to get dealt. It caused quite a stir in the online gambling community, leading the dealer to get fired, though more than a hundred hours of his gaming activity got scrutinized, and no extra foul play was discovered. That led investigators to believe that the situation in question was 100% accidental and not deliberate.
