It’s one of the most glamorous-looking jobs on the market, but it also feels like becoming a croupier is one of the best-kept secrets, too. You never really see casinos openly advertising for dealer positions, yet new faces are always coming through the door.
Whether you’re looking into a career change or if you’re just curious, we’ll explain the process of becoming a casino dealer and what the entire journey will look like for trainees.
Is it difficult to become a casino dealer?
To be completely honest, becoming a casino dealer is a lot of work. It takes weeks of full-time training before you even understand the basics of dealing table games, and even then, the supervisors won’t put you on a live table. You’ll be put on an empty training table while you watch the qualified dealers handle the customers, but this gives you a good chance to pick up some great customer service pointers, too!
The biggest hurdle is the maths, and at the start, it can feel like an impossible mountain to climb. You'll be expected to learn your 36 times table off by heart and with awkward amounts, but don't let this scare you off. Once you've learned it, it will feel like second nature and it'll come naturally to you - whether you believe it or not!
How do I become a casino dealer?
It doesn’t matter whether you’re in the US, Europe or Asia, the process is largely the same when it comes to hiring casino dealers. Before you even step inside of a casino, you’ll need to get a place in a dealer’s school.
Some of these will be hosted inside a casino, but some of them are off-site and away from customers. Depending on the school and the experience you bring to the table, these will either be paid or unpaid training sessions.
The average time in casino dealer training schools is six weeks of full-time training, and these can be staggered over different shifts to emulate working in a real casino. This means that sometimes you'll start at 9am, 3pm or 7pm, depending on the standard shift rotas at the casino or property.
What is casino dealer training like?
When you first start dealer training, they will start you out on the basics. This will usually include chip handling - this might seem silly at first, but once you’re a qualified casino croupier, you’ll be expected to handle these quickly and accurately.
One of the biggest tests is being able to identify a stack of 20 casino chips. They’ll give you a much larger stack (between 25 and 30) and it’s up to you to reach down and pick up 20 chips exactly and reliably over and over again. This is because most of the counting is done in 20s, so you’ll be doing this a lot in your shifts! You’ll also be expected to identify stacks of 5s and 10s in a similar way.
You’ll also be taught how to shuffle cards (for blackjack, you’ll be taught how to use a shoe and for poker you’ll be taught how to do a full casino riffle routine) and spin the ball around a roulette wheel.
You can expect to:
- Stand at an empty roulette wheel for entire days while in training, just spinning the ball around the wheel over and over again
- Pick up casino chips from a pile for hours at a time to get used to handling them
- Shuffling cards and then sorting them back out into their respective orders again
This sounds boring and redundant, but people don't pick these skills up naturally in the same way that you might clean glasses for a bartender shift or hang up clothes in retail. For many trainees, this will be the first time they've even seen casino chips, let alone handle them. Before you can be put on the live tables, you'll need to have mastered the basics.
What happens once you finish casino dealer school?
Once you’ve completed your casino dealer training, then it’s time to head to the actual casinos. If your school is part of the casino itself (which is popular in Europe), then you’ll simply start turning up for beginner dealer shifts and they’ll integrate you into the normal staff quickly. If you’re in the US, you might then need to apply to casinos after completing your training and hope to ‘break in’ - the industry term for getting your first dealer job.
What will my first few shifts as a casino dealer look like?
Either way, once you start your first job as a dealer, you’ll probably be put on empty tables for the first few weeks. Working in casinos is intense: The hours are unsociable and long, the work is constant mental maths and the customers are unlike the clientele you’ll find anywhere else. It might seem boring, but it’s in your best interest to have a quiet entry to casino work!
While you’re on empty tables, you’ll be expected to keep practising your new skills and deal to no-one in particular. The most important part of this, though, is being able to watch the experienced dealers at work! You’ll be able to pick up how they deal with difficult customers (many of which will be regulars, so it’s best to know how to deal with them as early as possible!) and how they handle themselves on the tables.
Any tips on becoming a casino dealer?
Most experienced dealers will be more than happy to take you aside and point out which regulars to look out for and how to handle them - after all, they want you to settle in well and help them out when the pit gets busy! Don’t be afraid to ask for tips once you’re away from customers.
Becoming a casino dealer is hard work, but if it’s a career you’ve been interested in, then it could be worth looking into! It can be very tiring, but also very rewarding at the same time. Croupiers typically love their jobs and will look back on their time working in casinos very fondly, but it is not a quick job to pick up if you’re low on cash.
Make a good impression and don’t be afraid to take risks - this is the gambling industry, after all! Apply to many different positions and be upbeat if they ask why you’ve applied with no experience, you never know!
