The incredible truth about craps dealers

Craps dealers are gamblers, just like you!

The casino pays the dealer only minimum wage, or barely more. Most of a dealer's income comes from tips, but tips are never guaranteed. So people who work as dealers are gambling that they will earn a decent living from the generosity of their players. Every day that they go to work, their income isn't guaranteed -- it's a gamble.

A dealer's loyalty is to the player, not to the casino.

The hand that feeds the dealer is primarily the customer's, not the casino's. The casino pays only minimum wage or barely more, while 50 to 80% of a dealer's take home pay comes from tips. Dealers are therefore rooting for the players to WIN, not to lose. If you mistakenly think that craps dealers work for The House then find a casino with hot action at the craps tables and watch how many suits from the pit close in on the action to make sure that the payoffs are correct and that the dealers are not giving away too many secrets to the players. Many a dealer has been fired for over-exuberance at a hot craps table.

There is no consistency in policy from casino to casino with regard to what a craps dealer can and can not tell players about the game. The general rule for dealers used to be that they should not volunteer information about the game unless asked, but with the growth of gaming and with all the fabulous new resort-casinos emerging today competing for customers, the casinos are a lot looser about the dealers providing player information. Many casinos have morning lessons on craps and provide an instructor who lectures and provides detailed information about the game. One Las Vegas Casino actually has classes all day long.

Dealers want to help you with your system.

Just because dealers know that your system can't beat the house in the long run doesn't mean that they don't hope it works for you in the short term. A good craps dealer wil easily recognize a serious player and will soon be positioning the player's wagers so that the player need provide no direction or instruction at all. Often, the dealer will even direct the player as to where he might have overlooked the positioning of odds or place bets to maintain consistency in a pattern of wagers.

Dealers look for ways to provide better service.

At many casinos it's against company policy for dealers to hustle tips, and doing so constitutes grounds for dismissal. This makes for an interesting "Touch and Go" situation. (See GREEN LIGHT and YELLOW LIGHT in our craps dictionary.) Because dealers are limited in their ability to hustle tips, which is the bulk of their income, they're always looking for ways to provide better service, to induce as much tipping as possible.

A dealer's ultimate goal.

The object of real pro dealers is to end up working for a first class casino where they would receive NO salary at all on their paycheck, because their tips would be so high that ALL salary dollars would be withheld for tax, social security, and benefit withholdings!