Do casinos allow their dealers and other employees to gamble where they work? Or, are the employees forced to gamble at a competitor?
[Editor's Note: For this answer, we turned to our man in the pit, Andrew Uyal, a table-games supervisor at the Cromwell.]
This policy usually depends on the casino, or even separate departments within the casino, to determine. The bad news is, that makes it tough to definitively answer your question. The good news is that it allows us to chat about some of the different possibilities.
The mostly widely accepted position is that the casino encourages its employees to patronize the property in their off time. You'll often see cocktail waitresses and bartenders, for example, sitting at the bar after their shift playing video poker and generously tipping their coworkers.
When it comes to gaming employees, however, they're typically not allowed to gamble within their own departments. Dealers aren't allowed to play table games and slot techs aren't permitted to play slots. The company likes to see employee paychecks returned to its coffers, but in the case of dealers and techs, it leaves the casino open to too many vulnerabilities.
The departmental restriction applies only to the property where you work. Most casinos, especially here in Las Vegas, have sister properties where workers from other properties are allowed to gamble.
However, additional restrictions often apply outside the home property. For instance, Caesars Entertainment employees are allowed to gamble at other Caesars' casinos, but they're are not allowed to win progressive jackpots. If a dealer from Caesars gambles at Planet Hollywood and hit Megabucks, for example, he wouldn't be allowed to cash. He would be able to play pai gow and hit the 7-card straight flush, which pays 8,000-to-1, a fixed amount. But he can't win the popular Millionaire Maker bet on the table games, which is a progressive. Employees also aren't allowed to play in the World Series of Poker. Instead, a separate staff-only tournament is held each year.
Outside of Vegas, these rules are much less predictable. During my advantage-play years, I came across a string of card rooms in the Northwest where dealers were allowed to play the tables on their off time. In one instance, my dealer mentioned he was getting off early. I watched him clock out, then turn right around and sit down at my table with me. Apparently, that was the case at most of these small card rooms where the dealers keep their own tips. At some places, they're even given a $100 matchplay coupon after their shift. So they're encouraged, even enticed, to gamble in their own departments.
Even though that type of policy is quite a bit more cavalier than the standard Vegas policy, in both cases, key employees (management-level) typically can't gamble either at their own or sister properties in any form. They are, however, allowed to patronize the bars, restaurants, shows, and other forms of entertainment offered by the casino.
These policies do take a few different forms, and some casinos in different regions may have different lines their employees can and can't cross when it comes to spending their money in-house in their off time. But one thing remains the same. At least on some level, it's encouraged.
