Crazy casino stories

I’m a casino dealer.

In this article I’ll share seventeen of the craziest and funniest things I have seen, personally, in the casinos I have worked at.

If you can think of other crazy casino stories, please leave a comment at the end of this page.

Without further ado…

Crazy casino stories

“Deuces vs nines”

I was dealing Texas Hold’em poker (tournament). One of the players was short-stacked and moved all-in with pocket deuces.

The big blind had pocket nines and called instantly. 2 on the flop, 9 on the turn, 2 on the river. The table went wild.

What are the chances of that? I don’t think I’ll see something like that ever again in my life, honestly.

“Only k”

I once saw a high roller lose over £, within a few hours on roulette. He would only play even chances, mostly red and black.

Not the biggest loss ever, of course. But what surprised me was the guy’s attitude — he didn’t blink.

He left as soon as he ran out of cash and said he would come back after a few days, which he probably did.

“Blackjack session”

The first casino I worked at was open 24 hours. I had the morning shift, and clocked in at 6am.

At the start of my shift, the pit boss sent me to a blackjack table where this guy was winning loads. I had no idea how long he had been playing.

Toward the end of my shift, at about 12pm, I was sent back to the same table, and the guy was still there. Suddenly, the manager showed up and told him he had to leave the casino.

It was a legal requirement — guy had been playing for over 24 hours in a row. He cashed out, left the casino, and came back as soon as he was allowed to.

“Strip poker”

I had the night shift on New Year’s Eve. Good atmosphere, good tips, and the casino wasn’t even too crowded, so overall a great experience.

Naturally, on New Year’s Eve casinos attract all kinds of people, and almost all of them are drunk. Really drunk.

One of the girls at the poker table won a big pot and randomly flashed her breasts at everyone.

I believe she got away with it (I don’t think management noticed, or cared). The other players certainly didn’t complain, although they were a bit surprised.

“10k tokens”

One of the casinos I worked at had a promotion where players could get, say, a pound back for every hundred spent.

The amount would be given in special tokens (cash chips that looked different than standard ones).

A player once came in with twenty stacks of these special chips, and it was the equivalent of £10,, which meant he previously gambled over a million.

The reason it was so funny was, all other players with these special chips usually had £5 or £10 at most.

Awkward/sad casino stories

“Win some, lose some”

A friend of mine once won a thousand, then lost two thousand the following week.

The same exact thing happened to a restaurant owner who would play at our casino regularly, but it was a bit more in his case.

He once won about £, on roulette, then cashed out and went home. He came back the following week, lost the k, and kept chasing it.

At the end of the night, he lost k in total (k down). Ouch. We never saw him again.

“No spin”

Some guy had been playing roulette for about half an hour, and didn’t win once. He was visibly frustrated to say the least.

Suddenly, as the roulette ball was spinning, he grabbed the money plunger and threw it against the layout. A few stacks of chips fell down so some of the bets could not be reconstructed.

He was also shouting and kicking the side tables (actually scary). Thankfully, security took care of that and he was banned permanently.

“What’s this?”

Two new customers came in looking lost. They sat at my blackjack table, which was empty, and asked how the game worked.

I explained the basic rules, and told them I would deal the cards after the bets would be placed on the blackjack boxes.

The two dropped a few pennies from their pockets and put, say, 50p on the box. I explained the minimum bet was £3. They left, still looking lost. Weird.

“Dealer error”

I once made an embarrassing mistake when dealing roulette. After I marked the winning number, I cleared the layout, but removed some of the winning chips too.

There was a camera check, but it wasn’t clear how many chips were on the bottom split/corner. It took the pit boss at least ten minutes to figure it out, which means I had to stand at the table and wait, and apologize to the customers.

They were patient, but that was probably my most awkward experience as a dealer.

“Gambling wages”

Kind of a sad story. A managing director of a small company once gambled all the employee’s paychecks — well over £k.

He was sure he would win, for whatever reason. He lost. He also lost his job, obviously.

He then went and worked as a restaurant server. I believe he still gambles, although he probably won’t take any huge risks anymore. Hopefully.

“Full tilt poker”

There was a heated argument at a poker table, right after a hand had finished.

I have no idea what happened, but two players went crazy and started to shout at each other. Suddenly, one of them grabbed a glass and smashed it on the opponent’s face.

The guy fainted, management called the police and the whole casino was shut down until the following day.

“Wrong color”

When you play roulette, you can bet with color chips as well as cash chips.

I once saw a customer grab a stack of £25 cash chips, thinking it was £1 color chips, and spread the chips on the layout quickly right before I announced no more bets.

Although it was an obvious mistake, the bet was legal and the chips were not retrievable. He lost — not a huge amount, but a bad way to lose.

Funny casino stories

“£1, buffet”

One of the casinos I worked at had a promotion where you could get free food if you were playing the table games. Every Thursday, I believe.

Surprisingly, this resulted in a lot of customers coming in and gamble hundreds or thousands just so they could eat the equivalent of a £15 meal at best.

I just couldn’t believe how such a simple promotion could attract so many people and make them lose so much money.

“One… I mean, two aces”

In poker, there is a thing called slow roll — when you have a very strong hand, or the best possible hand, but wait a few seconds to show it.

Although this is allowed, it’s one of the worst things you can do at the table. It’s bad etiquette, at best, and just a horrible thing to do to someone who’s just lost a pot.

Alright, so this poker player had pocket aces, and there was an ace on the board (community cards). At the showdown, he turned over just one ace. Then, after a few seconds, he showed the other one, laughing.

He was instantly punched in the face by his opponent. Security kicked them out and they were probably banned. I don’t think that guy ever tried to “slow roll” again.

“Drunk dealer”

This is probably the funniest thing I ever saw in a casino.

One of the dealers had been drinking before his shift (he was working nights). He clocked in and was sent to the busiest roulette table as the pit boss did not notice he was completely drunk.

We (dealers) noticed he was a bit too talkative with the customers, but not a big issue, right?

Then, when the ball dropped and he had to mark the winning number, he could not find it. It took him at least five seconds to mark the number. Management sent him home, although he didn’t lose his job.

“Call, maybe”

I was dealing cash poker and one of the players was hearing impaired — he could not hear anything, and had trouble speaking, apparently.

It was a relatively big pot and on the river he moved all-in. He didn’t push his chips forward, though, he simply made a gesture.

His opponent thought about it for a minute or so, then made the same gesture (meaning: I call). Guy turned over the best possible hand, and the opponent said: “I never said I was going to call”.

The floor ruled that there was no call, and the player kept his chips. Technically the right ruling. Whether it was funny or sad, I don’t know.

“Beginner’s luck”

A relatively common story, I guess, but a funny one nevertheless. I was dealing Texas Hold’em and everyone at the table was pretty good; there were two pros as well.

There were two seats available and suddenly two friends sat at the table. They were visibly drunk, and had absolutely no idea what they were doing. They didn’t even know the hand ranking.

Long story short, one of them gets into a huge pot against a very good player. On the river, the beginner player goes all-in, very casually, and his opponent ends up folding.

The beginner player showed ten-high — nothing. Pretty sure it’s happened many times already, but when I saw it I just couldn’t believe it. After the hand, the two friends left the table and cashed out.

Bonus

I never actually saw this, but thought I would include it in the list.

There was a guy playing red and black, alternatively, on roulette. He would bet red and black would come in; and vice versa.

He got angry at the dealer, divided all his remaining chips into two big stacks, and bet on both red and black at the same time. He then said: “see what you can do this time”.

The ball landed on zero. You don’t want to know how the player reacted, but he was instantly kicked out of the casino.

What’s YOUR craziest casino story?

Can you think of another gambling story? What crazy things have you heard or seen in a casino, as a player or as a dealer?

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