How Much Does A Craps Dealer Make
While casinos are known for their high cash flow, this does not guarantee that their employees all receive a nice share of the profits via their salaries. Candidates who are looking into becoming a craps dealer may be surprised to find out that the position’s pay is not exactly top tier material. Those who are more serious about being a craps dealer already know this and it’s often the combination of all the other advantages that come with being a craps dealer that keeps them going.
Beginner craps players, if you can remember only one bet, make it the pass line bet. This is the starting bet for all craps games and has one of the lowest house edges at 1.41% and highest odds of landing (251 to 244 to be exact). This is one of the best bets craps players can make, with payout odds of 1 to 1. However, other ranging How Much Money Does A Craps Dealer Make factors, such as the bonus value and the casino's rating, have been added into the mix as well. If I haven’t guessed your country correctly from your IP address, you can change it by clicking the flag in the top left corner.
More About Dealers
Average Craps Dealer Salary Rates
The average yearly rate for all Craps dealer jobs that are accrued by job sites and salary analysis sites is $14,000. By itself this average seems rather measly. When only considering hourly rates paid to casino craps dealers, this low average is generally spot-on. Hourly rates for a craps dealer will range from $6.00 to $9.00 with many places starting out at or just below their state’s minimum hourly rate.
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Receiving Tips as a Craps Dealer
The job of craps dealer is similar to being a waiter, where the majority of the income comes from tips provided by customers. The average yearly bonus outcome for all dealer positions in the United States is around $15,000. This means that on average, a dealer is likely to make as much or more in tips than their assured hourly rate. Combining the average hourly income salary and average bonus income nets a sum of about $30,000.
However, it’s important to remember that this is all an average. This means that there are outliers in the population that are receiving $10,000 per year on hourly rates along with $10,000 in bonuses that sums up to a somewhat paltry $20,000 per year. A portion of this disparity comes down to location and quality of the casino. Prestigious casinos often garner more income for craps dealers in tips on top of a higher hourly rate compared to smaller casinos.
Receiving Player Tips
Since the total salary of a craps dealer depends on tips, there is a high variability factor in how much one can earn at any given time. Craps dealers can maximize their tips income in several ways. The very first is knowing the ins and outs of craps and proper etiquette. Experienced players and employers alike appreciate dealers that can keep tables running smoothly, particularly those who know how to transition into a game of craps when coming off their work break.
Players in craps games are usually more than talkative and are willing to make relationships with dealers, so it’s important for a dealer to extroverted and to be able to recognize experienced players who are willing to make bets for the dealer and who are relatively successful at the game.
How Tips are Earned
As noted, players will often make bets for the dealer that are equal or lower to their own personal bet that they are placing on the table. Other times, players will make a bet that is to be shared with the dealer. Tips, also known as a toke which refers to the casino’s token currency, can also be received by providing players with table information regarding the position of the odds and bets on the table during a given game.
The in-house regulations on dealer tips vary from casino to casino. Some casinos require tips to be checked by a regulatory department that partitions the earnings based on the number of hours worked by each dealer. Other casinos allow the main dealer at a given craps table to be the sole recipient of any tips that are handed out by players during their work shift. Additional discrepancies vary on whether or not the box man, the person who is supervising the craps table, receives a portion of the tips. Often, box men do not earn a part of the tip as craps dealers are rotated between several positions in a single work shift that includes working the box man and dealer positions.
The type and amount of table information that a dealer is allowed to divulge to players is often covered during training. Violations of in-house policies are often met with strict consequences such as job termination. Often, the box man and dealer will look to earn more tips when other floor management personnel are not around.
Experienced craps dealers will eventually be able to divulge certain information to players without saying anything and instead do so by reading a player’s betting pattern and leveling the playing field on occasions where a player’s betting pattern happens to not be the best for the situation. Additionally, craps dealers who are working in a prestigious casino are more likely to encounter high rollers, who can bring in hefty tips for a dealer. In such situations, it’s not uncommon for an experienced and well placed craps dealer to rake in $50,000 to $90,000 in total yearly earnings.
Other Benefits of Being a Craps Dealer
Craps dealers, like most other casino dealer positions, will usually receive other benefits afforded to them by their employers. Candidates who fit the exact profile of a casino’s hiring department may have their entire training fee sponsored by the casino. Full time dealers receive health care and retirement benefits.
On days that have a lull in activity, casinos often run an early out list where dealers can sign up to leave early or waive an entire shift if there simply isn’t enough players around. With the boosts in casino revenues often provided during national holidays and during popular vacationing weekends, there’s usually time to earn extra income via overtime. Nearly all casino resorts offer their employees free meal or meal tokens, allow dealers to grab a bite after their work shift is over or during their mandatory breaks.
Additionally, the opportunity of becoming a craps dealer is accessible to older adults who are looking for a change of pace. With little focus on youth related requirements, this means that even senior citizens can become craps dealer provided they have the required license and qualities to perform the job. Occasionally, this results in a yearly salary that is greater than other white-collar job averages.
Have you ever considered being a casino dealer? The job might look like fun. Playing cards all day while talking with players! Of course, it's not quite that easy and those same players (you) can be a pain in the neck from time to time. Then again, no service-industry job doesn't have some drawbacks.
No industry is recession-proof, but casino jobs keep opening up because new casinos are still being built. And, there are reasons you might want to work at a casino.
Top Ten Reasons to be a Casino Dealer
- Pay. Dealers can make as much as $100,000 per year. The average dealing job at a small casino only pays half that much, but many do pay more than $25 per hour. That's a pretty good starting pay, right?
- Minimum Education Needed. As little as two weeks of training may be all that is required. Some casinos offer in-house training to existing employees for dealer positions. Other properties hire experienced dealers and/or those who have successfully graduated from a dealing school. Fees for dealing schools typically run $500 to learn blackjack and slightly more for complicated games like craps and roulette.
- Benefits. Many casinos are part of very large corporations, and they offer excellent benefits. Bonuses and 401K match programs are second only to medical benefits. Many casinos also offer tuition reimbursement for job-related college classes. Ask at the Human Resources department to find out about everything that's offered.
- Working Conditions. Although many casinos still allow smoking, most dealers find that the working conditions and perks are excellent. Good ventilation, good lighting, and a clean environment are standard. Employee dining rooms can rival nice restaurants, and some properties, like the Wynn in Las Vegas, offer dining that is off the charts. Some employee dining rooms are free, others offer meals for as little as a dollar or two.
- Scheduling. Most casinos offer 24-hour gaming, so dealers can work any shift. Time-off is usually easy to get, and an early-out to accommodate an emergency is often available.
- Tips. A dealer's pay is based heavily on tips. At a go for your own casino, dealers keep their own tips and have a huge impact on how much they earn. The harder they work at being friendly and taking care of their guests, the more they will earn. At a split-joint, all tips are pooled and shared between dealers, based on how many hours are worked.
- Breaks. Most dealers work an hour and a half and then get a half-hour break. That means the total hours actually worked during an 8-hour shift is really just 6 hours!
- Flexible Personal Time Off. More and more properties are offering personal time off instead of vacations. Dealers earn a few hours of paid time off each week and can schedule their own days off or vacations in advance.
- Comradery. Dealing makes for good stories and personal experiences. There is plenty of time to chat with fellow employees when you get two hours of breaks every day!
- Mobility and Transfers. Many casino properties allow dealers to move from one company-owned property to another, as the need arises - even to different states. Casinos also offer a wide variety of jobs and experienced dealers are qualified for many of them, even if they stay in the department and take a job as a Pit Boss.
There are other reasons that a casino dealer job is a perfect fit for people whether they are looking for a part-time or temporary job while going to college, or want to land a permanent position. Dealing isn't for everyone, but many people find the job fun and exciting and make a career of it.
How Much Does A Craps Dealer Make
No matter what your abilities, there are a lot of different casino jobs.