What is it like to be a croupier?

Work, no matter how good it is, is still work, and I was never able to identify myself with the opinion: I love my job! If you work for someone else, you always slave for someone else and his or her butt, no matter how good of a job it is, time passes and fades into the classic frustrated stereotype.

It’s the same with a casino job. The job of a casino croupier rapidly fell through the list of lucrative jobs. Nowdays modern casinos are happy they have some fast-course croupiers behind their tables at all. The old inventory of old school inspectors doesn’t count. They are legends and immortal kings of their time! Hats off ladies and gentlemen!

The job of a casino croupier is different from other professions, because it is more than just a job. It will become your life style without you noticing it. Later on a vicious circle, from which there is no escape.

Why?

Usually you work at night. In addition to you not noticing how your biorhythm slowly transforms, you become a night person. You will live a completely different life than normal terrestrials. Regular days off in the middle of the week again provide only limited possibilities

1. Go for “coffee“ with someone from work (most of the people have their days off during weekends. No one has time Monday at 1 p.m.).
2. Don’t go for “coffee“at all.

In the end your circle of friends shrinks to colleagues, roommates and parents. If you already have a family, who live their lives during the day and sleeps at night, it will be all the more difficult to make it work. Well, it’s not a job like any other after all! But you don’t know this at the beginning. You will live the night life of Batman! Later on maybe even without Robin (wives/girlfriends, they very often left my colleagues).

Reason: Probably some sort of long-term incompatibility of two different lives, the day one and the night one. Gambling – unwanted work disease, which affects 99% of croupiers, but more about that later.

Let’s take a look at the pros of this job first. During the day, you can take care of various practical things (doctors, office duties, shopping…) No other work can give you this, because you would be stuck there until 4 – 5 p.m.

Financial reward wasn’t the worst at the time (despite all casino machinations with the tips dividing). The possibility of career growth looks very motivational in terms of casino hierarchy, beginning with croupier – inspector – pit boss and ending with the casino manager.

However the reality in Slovakia when compared to foreign countries was much more complicated. I believe times have changed and the casino management too. You don’t have to stand straight behind a blackjack table with hands on the table in straight angle and fear to scratch that itch behind your ear. You don´t have to count those crazy chip pyramids at the table anymore, because casino isn´t busy. Mrs. manager just drank thousand plus one coffee. Boringly she needs to quickly polish her ego in math test.

“So, let´s practice more at 4 a.m!” She said.

Now when I come to a casino, it feels like the “iron curtain of casino tyranny“ finally fell down. Hooray, you trainee croupiers are so lucky! Cruella de Ville is “dead” and her whole team as well! A new time of casino casualness has begun!

The job of a croupier is definitely awesome for a young person as something to get started. Take a look at other possibilities. For the rest of the population it remains something exotic and enticing. There are not many people doing it, that’s what makes it still extraordinary. It is certain experience. You learn various interesting games from roulette through Blackjack, Brag, Punto Banco, craps to all the poker variations. If you get stuck in it, it is very difficult to get out and do something else. Convenience and simplicity of work routine with possible high financial reward (especially abroad) won’t allow you to leave, and it will lock your soul into a dark 13^th chamber of gambling.

The job of a croupier is like a maelstrom, either it pulls you down to rock bottom, or you will swirl in it for the rest of your life!

Everyone likes something different. It is also a question of life priorities. They can magically show us new ways of our existence and also move our life to the next level. This possibility is very individual. In the end, we all are responsible for our own happiness. Let’s live our lives in a way where we can all be satisfied with our lives and ourselves!