Let’s be honest: being a croupier looks a cool job to have. These people get to dress up sharp, lead casino games and work in opulent-looking establishments while people play for big sums of money and knock back expensive cocktails and spirits. And someone pays them to do all that. You might even leave from a visit to a casino thinking you’d like to become a croupier yourself and grab yourself a slice of the action.
Career choice - Croupier
But is it really as glamorous as the movies, TV and even the trips to the casino might suggest?
This post looks at how women came to occupy more roles as croupiers and what you must do to become a croupier, as well as provide insight into what life in the job is like.
Women leading the charge
One thing you’ll have noticed if you’ve visited a few casinos is that a lot of croupiers are women. Although the idea of hiring women for croupier roles didn’t really catch on until the 20th century, women had been leading gaming tables long before that.
Aristocratic women in the 18th century would host faro tables to play games, socialize and chat about political and social matters. Next came the saloons of the Wild West, where one lady, Alice Ivers Duffield Tubbs Huckert, or “Poker Alice” as she became known, was particularly prominent and built a formidable reputation. She went from hosting and winning games to opening her own gambling house.
War also paved the way for women to work as croupiers. The Second World War left a lot of casinos empty as men went off to fight and casinos in Nevada began to hire women. Las Vegas would later continue recruiting women for croupier roles in the 1970s.
The same decade, the World Series of Ladies Poker event also began to take place, further breaking down the boundaries in a world seen as a ‘man’s world’. Today, lady croupiers are a common site, as you’ll see at this online casino.
Differences between online and offline croupiers
Whether they’re operating an online game or an off one, croupiers are doing the same job, but there are some slight differences between the two. If you’re thinking of becoming a croupier, these are worth considering:
- Online croupiers must look good from every angle. As a result, they must take extra special care of their appearance.
- Online croupiers have machines that do all the math for them, whereas in traditional casinos, it’s up to the croupier to do all the calculations. Serving as a croupier in a land-based casino calls for some additional skill, therefore.
- Online croupiers may have more flexible working hours, due to the fact online casinos are open around the clock, whereas traditional casinos are only open at certain times of the day.
Becoming a croupier
According to the website PayScale, which researches and reports on a vast range of salaries, the average base salary, as of July 21, is around £19,195 per year. As of September 2021, however, the recruitment website Indeed displays it to be £21,322 per year… so slightly higher there.
Although there are no formal qualifications for becoming a croupier, employers will expect you to have at least three to five GCSEs, including English and math because you’ll have to work with the public and with numbers. As well as good arithmetic skills, being able to think on your feet is another useful quality to have.
Croupiers will have to undertake some formal training, which could last as little as two weeks or as much as three months, depending on whether you’ll be online or offline. A croupier role is one in which you do a lot of your training on the job. In addition to your formal training, you could be training on the job for up to a year.
The croupier life
An enjoyment of gaming and of socializing will carry you far in the industry. Being a croupier is far from the lonely life Clive Owen portrayed it as in the film ‘Croupier’. Croupiers are fairly close knit and like to socialize with each other.
Note, however, that despite their love of socializing together, you should get ready for some unsociable hours when working as a croupier. Casinos will stay open right through the night, closing as late (or early, depending on how you see it) as 6 am.
While serving as a croupier, you’ll see a variety of people visit the casino. You’ll see regulars play during the afternoons or evenings. You’ll maybe even grow fond of them as you appreciate their passion or general enthusiasm for the establishment and gaming.
You’ll see, too, punters who are in for the experience of gaming in a casino. They’ll play anything that’s going. They’re not necessarily gamers, but rather people there for a night out.
One of the hazards you might expect of being a croupier is of watching out for cheats and card counters. Casino operators relieve a lot of the pressure on them, however, by placing lots of security cameras in their establishments. Responsibility still falls on them to keep an eye out for anyone who has signs of problems with gambling, though.
Being a croupier requires a blend of charm, skill, numeracy and attention to detail. You must remain detached from the emotions people at the table will be feeling and just lead the game. Although serving as a croupier is an enjoyable job, you must always remember that you’re there just to lead the action and the outcome of the games will be what it will be.
Tagged in jobs