Craps Dealer Schools
If you’re interested in casino games and enjoy the excitement of spending time in a live casino, you might be interested in becoming a Craps dealer. Being a Craps dealer requires more than just overseeing a Craps table and collecting bets. As a Craps dealer, you’ll have memorize the wide variety of Craps bets as well as their pay ratios, quickly calculate payouts, and carefully watch for cheaters. Due to the complexity of Craps, most prospective Craps dealers attend a 12 week course, as opposed to a 4 week course for poker dealers.
Requirements, Costs, and Offerings of Craps Dealer Schools
Training to become a Craps Dealer is considerably more expensive compared to learning how to deal other casino games, with the cost of tuition usually falling around $2,000 for a full course. The best Craps Dealer schools usually offer excellent job placement services and financial aide, as well as tuition assistance. Many schools offer flexible class hours, with identical classes being held in both the morning and evening.
In Nevada and New Jersey, enrollees in Craps Dealer schools must be at least 21 years of age by the time of their expected graduation date, as casino employees must be 21 years old in order to legally work.
More About Dealers
- Average Salary for Casino Dealers
- Applying for a Job
- How to Get a Job
- Becoming a Professional Craps Dealer
Craps Dealer School Environments
Instead of utilizing a classroom environment, most of the best Craps Dealer schools create the atmosphere of real casino. This allows students to understand what it will be like once they’re dealing Craps to actual customers in a potentially distracting and volatile environment. These Craps Dealer schools use authentic chips, tables, and other real casino equipment. Lighting is realistic and close to that of a casino, and noise is often added to a more authentic simulation. In the later stages of the Craps Dealer training, the instructors will often act as particularly abrasive customers in order to test the dealer’s ability to deal with a difficult situation.
Locations of Brick-and-Mortar Craps Dealer Schools
The states with the largest amount of Craps Dealer schools are California, Florida, Nevada, and Washington. However, there are Craps Dealer schools in many other states as well, including Colorado (2), Louisiana (1), Michigan (1), Mississippi, (3), New Jersey (4, all of which are near Atlantic City), New Mexico (1), and New York (1).
In California, you’ll find the California Dealer School, Casino College of Los Angeles, Casino Dealer College, Casino Dealers Academy, Casino Gaming Institute, Mt. View National Bartenders School and Casino College, National Bartenders and Casino Dealers, Quality College, San Diego Dealer School, and West Coast Dealing Academy.
In Flordia, you’ll find the Casino Career Institute, Casino Dealer’s Academy, Pinnacle Gaming, Professional Dealer and Player Schools, and Real Deal Poker Academy. Nevada has the A+ Institute of Gaming, Casino Creations, CT Dealer School, Community College of Southern Nevada, Crescent City School of Gaming and Bartending, Let’s Make a Dealer, Nick Kallos’ Casino Gaming School of Nevada, Reno Tahoe Job Training Academy, and PCI Dealer School.
In Washington, you’ll find Ace in the Hole Casino School, Pacific Casino Training Inc., Seattle Gaming Academy, and Vancouver Dealer School. Other Craps Dealer schools include Casinos Wild Inc. in Michigan, EZ Learn Casino Training in Mississippi, Casino Careers Institute in New Jersey, Casino Dealer School in New Mexico, and Niagara Gaming Academy in New York.
Example of Curriculum at Craps Dealer Schools
In addition to offering courses in Poker, Roulette, and Blackjack dealing, Casinos Wild, Inc. offers a Craps Dealer course in Michigan. This comprehensive course starts with an overview of terminology, game rules, stock and color value of cheques, and cutting, picking, and color changes of cheques. The course then moves into hands-on training related to basic and advanced betting methods, bet collection and payment procedures, calculating payoffs, dice handling and calls. Once these basics are understood, the course covers every Craps bet, including place bets, come bets, proposition bets, buy bets, and odds bets. Game security, table limits, casino variations, casino auditions, and job interviews are also covered.
The course included 120 hours of training, with eight hours per week for fifteen weeks.
Advantages of Being a Casino Craps Dealer
Being a professional Craps Dealer has plenty of advantages. First your training may be partially or completely subsidized by the casino you end up working for. Before enrolling in a Craps Dealer school, contact the casino where you plan on working. They may offer a program that will give you free admission to their preferred Craps Dealer school, so long as you complete the training. This could also increase your chances of being hired after you graduate.
Craps dealers usually have flexible working hours and are allowed holidays and medical leaves. This will vary by casino. Many college students choose to pay for their studies by working as a casino dealer due to the flexible hours.
Craps dealers are generally paid quite well, and have the opportunity to make additional money through overtime and tips. This is especially true when playing at a casino with high rollers, and even more true at a game with fast action and big wins such as craps. It’s common knowledge among casino goers that tipping the dealer is a crucial component of casino etiquette, and skilled, friendly dealers reap the rewards of generous tipping.
Many casinos include a restaurant, and it’s common for casinos to provide their employees with a free meal each day. Although this will also obviously vary by casino, it’s one of many perks enjoyed by Craps dealers.
Being a Craps dealer is also a perfect job for senior citizens who may be looking for a new experience. Casinos love to hire mature citizens who will be reliable and friendly to customers. Although the job can occasionally be stressful, the minimal physical requirements make being a Craps dealer ideal for a variety of individuals.
Attending a Craps Dealer school requires a very small financial and time commitment as compared to obtaining a college degree. For individuals with a busy life and a number of existing commitments, becoming a Craps dealer may be a perfect choice.