How many decks of cards does a casino go through?

You pick the casino. How many decks of cards does a casino go through on a daily/annual basis?

Thanks for letting us pick. And for not asking us to list every casino in Nevada and how many decks of cards the use annually.

So we chose ... the Cromwell, where we have an inside source in Andrew Uyal, author of our book The Blackjack Insiders.

Andrew first points out that the number of decks of cards in any casino depends on how many tables it has and what types of games are played at those tables. Mainly, however, the total depends on the card-change procedures, meaning how often used decks get taken out of circulation, replaced by new decks.

But at his joint, one of the smaller casinos on the Strip with 29 table games, his estimate is about 60 single packaged decks on an average day. That adds up to a little less than 22,000 decks, or 1.14 million individual cards, per year.

He cautions, "The reality is probably a little higher. We use more on the weekend for added games. The yearly number of decks is probably somewhere between to 23,000 and 27,000."

He adds that what they call "bricks," or eight-deck pre-shuffled boxes of cards, are different than single decks. Bricks require far less maintenance and don't need to be changed out nearly as often. So that skews the count a bit.

But the bottom line is, even at a smaller casino like the Cromwell, that's a large closetful of playing-card inventory. Most Strip casinos have multiples of that; the MGM Grand, with 160 table games and perhaps 140 that use cards, needs nearly four times as many, or roughly 90,000 decks per year. That's a lot of cards, nearly five million year after year after year.

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Comments

Kevin Lewis Mar-21-2022

Follow-up question

So, given that so many decks are used, and then taken out of play...where do they all go? A few go to the gift shop, maybe to the players' club, and I've heard that they make regular donations of used decks to nursing homes and the like, but still...all those destinations account for a tiny fraction of the total. 250 million individual cards per year!

I do have an idea, though. Use them to repair America's infrastructure. You build a house of cards, why can't you build a bridge with them? All it would take is a little expertise and maybe some Super Glue.

Donzack Mar-21-2022

Recyclable?

I hope they’re recyclable, the environmentalists could protest. How about all those plastic wrappers? I hope they’re not out in the Pacific constipating the whales.

Marty Mar-21-2022

Donations of used decks

I have often gotten used decks from casinos in the midwest for the local poker and bridge clubs. Sometimes they must be given to me outside the casino proper but they are very generous in providing as many as desired.

jay Mar-21-2022

Follow-Up question

You mention bricks of 8 pre-shuffled decks. Presumably this is for black jack. I though the accepted shoe - standard was 6 decks of cards, or is this only for the continual shuffling machines ?

I don't mind the auto-shufflers where they take the cards and move them to a shoe but if they are now using eight decks I am sure this throws off most of the standard counting methods

The continual shufflers could be using 200 decks for all that it matters.

Dnalorailed Mar-21-2022

Low count?

That Cromwell count seems low. Using a 3 card poker table for example. The game uses 2 decks at a time. Local casinos near me change cards every 4 hours. That would be 12 decks in a 24 hour period just for one table. There’s Ultimate Texas Holdem tables, etc. Like someone else wrote, blackjack tables use 6-8 deck shoes per table that have to be changed throughout the day. Just sayin.

O2bnVegas Mar-21-2022

For Dna and Marty

Cromwell is a tiny casino, the reason the deck count sounds low.  But as mentioned, LVA has a contact there so not as difficult to get an answer.

Marty, great way to recycle used decks of cards.  

Plus, surely there is an incineration process in the area for discarded cards.  Hopefully someone has thought of this before.

Candy

rokgpsman Mar-21-2022

Used playing cards

A big portion of the used playing cards are shredded and recycled along with all the other paper, plastic, glass and metal can waste that casino resorts recycle each month. They've gotten very evironmental for various reasons and have extensive recycle programs. And there are companies that pick up the waste and recycle it for the casino resort. Some of the used cards are given away to prisons, military organizations like the USO, nursing homes and retirement centers. A few decks are sold in casino gift shops or given away to players as a souvenir. The cards that aren't destroyed are usually altered by cutting off one corner or drilling a hole thru the card, that way it can't make it's way back into a casino game by someone trying to cheat.

Howard M Mar-21-2022

Cards (and dice)

The acquisition, inventory, and disposition of casino cards and dice are almost as much a security and surveillance concern as the chips. In the casinos where I worked security, shift managers were responsible for the inventory of those in storage, those in use, and those retired/awaiting disposition. When they were picked up for recycling or conversion into souvenirs (say, a hole-punch through the entire card deck), surveillance had to be informed exactly how many cases were being carried out the door.

Stewart Ethier Mar-21-2022

baccarat

Isn't it standard practice at baccarat (the full game, not mini-baccarat) to replace the cards after every 8-deck shoe?  In baccarat, players are allowed to handle the cards, and they often mutilate them, as I understand it.

Kevin Rough Mar-21-2022

Dollar Tree

Many of those cards end up at Dollar Tree.  Just about every Dollar Tree here in the east has packs of casino cards at the registers from various casinos around Las Vegas.

Tim Miller Mar-29-2022

Gift Dice

Sometimes the used items are given as gifts.

I was recently in Vegas for my 60th.  I believe it was as the Cromwell when my friend asked the dealer to be kind to me as it was my birthday, and the dealer reached and grabbed a canister with 2 casino-used dice.  I loved it.

Now, what happened to the other thousands of dice used...

Question of the Day - 21 March 2022

Comments