This is a term used frequently in the rules to combat collusion or any arrangement in place by the player to deceive, mislead or defraud the casino. Usually this type of player will be making his living off the back of this practice.
Mike
There's a difference between defrauding the casino and a "normal" professional player.
By normal, I mean the players that make a living by gambling without cheating. For example, if you know what you're doing and play smart, you could easily make a living off of playing blackjack. Many players do.
Making a living off of slots, well, that's another story...lol
IMO, it would be near impossible to tell if a player is a professional or not. What guidelines would they go by? How could they prove it?
I've noticed this at pretty much all the casinos, too, but I think this could be used as a FU clause if they don't want to pay out a huge win.
For instance,
You couldn't tell if a player was a professional or not by their deposit sizes.
A recreational player could be an expert at blackjack, but yet not make their living off of it.
A stay at home mom could play 5+ hours a day, every day of the year, and still not be a professional player.
etc...
Professional play is when underhand tactics are used to gain a financial advantage. These may include the use of third party software to intercept games, collusion where several players are conspiring against the casino to gain an advantage and it also covers bonus abuse (again where the player is trying to exploit the casinos T&C's to gain an advantage, usually by opening multiple accounts.
So all professional gamblers are cheats?
This term shouldn't even be there. If you're using a bot, have multiple accounts or using whatever other method to cheat the casino, you're breaking the T&C that are already in place.