How To Become A Professional Casino Dealer

Standing in the center of a crowded casino, effortlessly shuffling cards and calculating complex payouts, is a highly skilled profession.


If you have excellent manual dexterity and can handle high-pressure social situations, it can be an incredibly lucrative career path.

Learning the Trade: Casino Academies

You cannot simply walk into a casino and ask for a job dealing blackjack; you must be professionally trained first.


Students spend hundreds of hours practicing chip handling, mastering the 'riffle' shuffle, and memorizing payout tables.

Some massive casino resorts offer free, in-house dealing schools, but you must pass an intense audition to be hired afterwardTuition for an independent dealing school can range from $500 to $2,000, depending on how many games you want to learnCraps is universally considered the hardest game to learn, but Craps dealers are always in high demand and make the best tips
Surviving the Grind: The Dealer's Life

Once hired, new dealers usually start on the 'graveyard shift' (2 AM to 10 AM) or are placed in the lowest-limit pit areas.


While the base salary is often just minimum wage, a good dealer at a busy, high-end casino can make $70,000 to $100,000 a year in tips.

Game MasteryTraining TimeTip Potential (Demand)Blackjack / Baccarat4 - 6 WeeksModerate (Very common skill)Craps10 - 14 WeeksExtremely High (Rare skill)

If you can master the cards and manage the crowds, the casino floor can become a highly profitable and exciting office.