How to Become a Casino Dealer

By Alex Smith, Last updated Mar 23, 2024

If you are interested in how to become a casino dealer, this page is going to answer your questions. While several steps are involved with becoming a casino dealer, the perks can be worth the hard work. Thankfully, the gaming industry is always on the lookout for casino dealers. If you know what you’re doing and put effort into your job, you can succeed – and there’s quite a bit of money to be made, too!

The first thing we will look at in this how to become a casino dealer guide is what skills casino dealers typically need.

What Skills Casino Dealers Need

As with any job in life, casino dealers require several skills. Thankfully, most casino dealers will be given thorough, on-the-job training – usually in-house. However, it doesn’t hurt if you already possess the required skills. As a general rule of thumb, casinos look for the following qualities in potential employees:

Customer Service Skills

As a casino dealer, you will constantly interact with players. This means you need to be able to communicate clearly and confidently. This is a vital part of a casino dealer’s job. If you are not a confident person, becoming a casino dealer may not be the most suitable job for you. This is especially relevant if you want to become one of the many poker dealers in the world.

Thankfully, even if your customer service skills aren’t the best, you can continually improve. You can enroll in online courses that teach you how to communicate better with people. If you already work as a casino dealer, ask your employer whether they offer additional training to help you become more confident when dealing with customers and players.

Basic High School Math

You do not need to be able to remember pie, but you need to have a firm grasp of basic mathematics. For example, when casino dealing, you will need to be able to add, subtract, and multiply in your head – on the spot – quickly and accurately. This is one of the most crucial parts of the job, and it’s vital that you can calculate how much to pay players in a timely fashion.

Whenever a pit boss is thinking about hiring new casino dealers, they will be on the lookout for essential math ability. If your math isn’t up to a basic high school level, it’s unlikely being a casino dealer will be a suitable job for you.

A Gaming License (Where Applicable)

Depending on where in the world you live, you may need to apply for a gaming license before you can begin dealer casino games. For example, in Canada, you must either pass through the Canadian Casino Gaming College or apply for a dedicated gaming license.

While the process varies between countries, you will usually need to present a photo ID to begin. You also need to prove your address. You will not usually need this gaming license when interviewing for a casino dealing job. However, the casino hiring manager may see it as an advantage if you already hold this gaming license.

20/20 Color Vision

Unfortunately, if you want to enter a casein career, you must have perfect color vision. This means that if you are color blind, you are unlikely to be able to enter this field. This is because casino dealers need to be able to differentiate between different colors easily and quickly. While this may seem discriminatory, it is the job’s unfortunate reality.

A Clean Criminal Record

Every night, a casino dealer will process hundreds of transactions at the table. They will be handling a lot of money, requiring them to be trustworthy around money. Each dealer will need to undergo a criminal record check. This is standard practice at virtually every land-based casino in the world.

While certain misdemeanors may not impact your ability to get the job, be prepared that your employer will find out about it. It’s best to be upfront with them at all times. Before you apply for the job, get in touch with the hiring manager and ask whether your conviction will affect your chances of being offered the job.

Types of Dealers

There are several different types of casino dealers. If you go to any land-based casino, whether in Las Vegas or small casinos on the Gold Coast, you will notice that casino dealers can generally be categorized into one of the five following categories.

If you are considering a casino career, you should know what dealer you will become. After all, when you apply to become a casino dealer, the interviewer will probably ask you what type you would like to be!

Croupier

A croupier – more commonly known as a roulette dealer – is the title of the person who is responsible for working the Roulette table. The croupier has several responsibilities. They will spin the wheel, drop the roulette ball, and exchange the player’s cash for casino chips. A roulette croupier generally needs to have better math skills than most other positions in a land-based casino.

That’s because the roulette table is a fast-paced and action-packed environment. Many bets can be placed at once, and some complex calculations can often be performed at the end of the round. However, tips can be very generous at the roulette table. Casino employees in Vegas, for example, who work this table, may get tipped hundreds – or even thousands – of dollars per night!

Card Game Dealer

A card game dealer will be responsible for dealing with a card-based game. This could include baccarat, blackjack, or Casino Hold’em. A card game dealer is responsible for several tasks. They will need to shuffle the cards. However, many land-based casinos now use an automatic card shuffler, so this aspect of the job may be now somewhat redundant.

In addition, a card game dealer will also need to deal the cards to players. The method of dealing will vary depending on which game the dealer is dealing with. Unlike roulette, card game dealers are responsible for prompting players to take turns.

Craps Dealer

Craps tables are pretty unique in the fact that they are – usually – the only dice game you will find in the pit. Craps tables also tend to have multiple casino dealers. This is down to the complexities involved with dealing Craps and the speed at which the gameplay plays out!

If you are tasked with working at a Craps table, you will be tasked with collecting bets and paying players their winnings. You and a fellow croupier will be tasked with looking over half of the table. Like Roulette, tips on the Craps table can be substantial.

Live Dealer

Live dealers don’t work in physical land-based casinos. Instead, they work in special custom-built studios that stream live HD gaming feeds to online casinos. Some notable software providers and game developers operating live casino games include Evolution Gaming, NetEnt, and Playtech.

As a live casino dealer, you will be working out of a studio in front of a live camera that broadcasts over the internet. As a result of this working arrangement, live dealers don’t actually interact physically with players. However, many game developers and software providers verbally encourage live dealers to chat with players.

Poker Dealer

Poker dealers are, essentially, table games dealers. However, we’ve placed them into their own category here because poker dealers aren’t usually in the same location as the other casino table games.

As a poker dealer, you will be responsible for two main games; tournaments and cash games. Your job will be to shuffle and deal the cards to players, collect chips, and keep the game going!

How to Become a Dealer – On the Job Training? Casino School?

There are a few different ways to become a casino dealer, and one of the most popular ways is to attend a casino school. However, on-the-job training is still highly popular, and these two different methods will be explained below.

Casino Schools in Canada

When it comes to becoming a trained casino dealer, there are two leading schools in Canada that specialize in training croupiers. Below, we will take a look at both of these schools.

Canadian Casino Gaming College

The Canadian Casino Gaming College is the most well-known casino school in Canada. It offers a wide variety of comprehensive casino dealer courses and training programs. They work directly with several qualified industry experts – all of whom have worked in land-based casinos for decades and have years of teaching experience.

While fees are pretty high, the school has an excellent success rate – and its graduates are known for being in high demand among land-based casinos.

Winning Touch Casino School

Winning Touch is a casino school located in Ontario. It’s a well-known training academy, and it was established by the legendary professional casino dealer Robby Robertson. All training takes place at the Niagara Falls Casino, and anyone – provided they are of a legal gambling age – is welcome to attend.

The school is capable of training many casino table games. Dealer training is expensive, but land-based casinos will see a dealer from here as very in-demand, so jobs should be pretty easy to find.

On the Job Dealer Training

A popular alternative to attending a casino school is to take advantage of on-the-job training. Some land-based casinos offer this as part of their introduction package for new dealers. This means that you will be taught the ropes in a real land-based casino environment after the interview and being awarded the job. This will usually look like you following a trained dealer around for several weeks, mimicking what they do and trying it all out for yourself.

The primary benefit of on-the-job training is that you’re paid to do it. This means you can save a LOT of money on expensive course fees. Another significant benefit of on-the-job training is that you’ll be training on the tables on which you will actually be working. This makes it a lot easier to familiarize yourself with everything and how it all works.

However, we should point out that on-the-job training positions in Canada are much more competitive than if you were to self-train. That doesn’t mean these positions cannot be found, but the competition is definitely higher, so keep this at a minimum deposit. Below, we’ll look at a few leading land-based casinos that offer on-the-job training.

Casino de Montreal

Casino de Montreal is part of the Canadian casino giant Loto Quebec group. This is a group of government-run land-based casinos that offer a wide variety of work-based benefits. For example, this includes on-the-job experience. They even have a dedicated training suite so you can start practicing without actually being out on the main casino floor.

Competition is very high; however, When new jobs are posted, there are many more applicants than there are jobs available – so bear this in mind if you are planning on applying here.

Great Blue Heron Casino

The Great Blue Heron Casino is located just outside of Toronto. It’s a huge casino, employing some 1,000 members of staff – and, in 2017, it received the award for being one of the city’s top 100 companies to work for. Alongside their training on the job, Great Blue Heron Casino also offers education reimbursement.

This means that if you were to attend a casino school, Great Blue Heron Casino would pay you back some or all of your tuition fees!

FAQs

Are casino managers trained dealers?

Yes, casino managers at most casinos will also need to know how to dealer the same games they are presiding over. Any professional dealer will aspire to become a casino manager – whether it’s dealing poker or casino table games – and this is why many poker rooms and land-based casinos have incentive programs to help dealers reach management positions.

What skills do I need to become a dealer?

To become a casino dealer, you need to have good communication skills, and you also need to have basic math abilities. It helps to understand the game and house rules, although you will be taught more about these in dealer school or when you are training. Strong communication skills are arguably the most critical skill, however, as you will communicate with players a lot while dealing at the casino.

Do I need a high school diploma?

Whether you need a high school diploma for the job openings you are looking at depends on several factors. Ultimately, it’s up to the land-based casino you are applying for. Generally speaking, if you already have been to a casino school, you won’t need to worry too much about this. However, if you want to be trained on the job, then you should expect to be asked for a diploma yes.

Are there casino dealers for slot machines?

No, slot machines do not require dealers. However, they do require attendants; these attendants are responsible for issuing any hand-pays. They are also expected to be on hand to help with any issues that may arise from players playing the video slots.

Where can I find the best casino training courses?

It’s best to search in your local area. If you live near a major city, you will likely find better casino training courses inside the city rather than in more rural areas. You can also contact your local land-based casinos and ask them for their advice!

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