Despite what you may think, the fix isn’t in. By Al O’Grady
Is a blackjack dealer I often hear comments from players that the “fix” is in. Really? Do casinos actually cheat, or could it be that the odds of probabilities are working itself out? At the casino I work at we have continuous shufflers at the blackjack table. The continuous shuffler is a subject for an article unto itself in the future, but today I would like to focus on the notion that the game is not on the up and up.
Over the years, I have worked at two traditional, brick-and-mortar casinos, and for two other operators that worked informally at different sites serving charities, county fairs, and corporate fun nights. Each operator would provide training for dealers and would have each dealer pass a table test. I can say unequivocally that no casino operator has ever showed me how to cheat.
After gaining years of experience at the table, I still don’t know how to cheat as a dealer. Even if I did personally, I would not do it. Why? It simply isn’t worth it. Aside from the ethical dilemma about stealing, cheating etc., I could lose my license, my job or even
face criminal prosecution.
Now that I have patted myself on the back for simply doing the right thing, I would like to tell you about my coworkers over the years. I have never known a coworker who has cheated. I have never had a coworker show me how to cheat and my coworkers don’t engage in unscrupulous activities for the same reasons I don’t do it. It simply isn’t worth it.
While I am trying to impress upon you the upstanding actions of dealers as a whole, let’s not kid ourselves. Cheating has happened in casinos. Let’s start with the players. If someone thinks they can get away with something, they will try. They will use any and all devices at their disposal to take something that is not rightfully theirs. They will justify it anyway they can by saying casinos are morally corrupt, that they are getting even since casinos are taking advantage of the public, or that the casinos are a multi-million-dollar business and won’t miss it. They will use all sorts of acts of deception, misdirection, sleight of hand, diversionary tactics, etc., to get something for nothing. But in the end, it is cheating. It is stealing.
While I am trying to make the case that dealers are playing by the rules, there have definitely been cases where dealers have been involved in cheating schemes. There are those that have gone rogue but — I cannot stress this enough — these are isolated incidents. It is not the norm. By no means is this illegal activity sanctioned by the casino. It is not part of the culture.
It’s like the airline industry. We all know that air travel is the safest mode of transportation, but when there is a disaster halfway around the world it makes front-page news here at home.
Over the years as the casino industry has evolved. It has put safeguards in place to protect itself and to ensure a fair game is being played on both sides. I will give you a few examples. First, there is the human element. Casinos hire supervisors to watch the dealers, it has pit bosses to watch the supervisors and casino managers to watch the pit bosses. It has standard protocols for dealers when moving a stack of chips to a player. The bottom chip has to be “heeled” to ensure a dealer has not put a $25 or $100 chip at the bottom of a stack of $5 chips. Blackjack games have shoes to ensure the dealer is not dealing from the bottom of the deck and I’m saving the best for last. Casinos have 24-7 video surveillance all over the casino floor. No matter how good you may be at sleight of hand, misdirection or diversionary tactics, the eye in sky sees everything.
With the eye in the sky, there is a surveillance crew watching different tables at random. Not only are they looking for unethical play, they are also ensuring the integrity of the game. Dealers are human. They can and will unintentionally make mistakes. If a mistake is made that has gone unnoticed, the surveillance crew will call the pit boss to correct the error regardless if it is in favor of the house or the player. It has happened to me personally that we have taken money from a player by mistake. The error is recognized and the player is reimbursed. The road to fairness is paved both ways. Yes, it does happen.
Now let’s assume for a second that casinos intentionally cheat their customers. What would be the consequences? If they were caught, they would certainly have to answer to government regulators. There would definitely be fines or some other drastic restitution, including jail time or possibly being shut down. But even if they were caught and got a slap on the wrist, there would be an even greater penalty and that is their public reputation. Would you go to a specific casino if it was found cheating? I wouldn’t. Cheating would negatively affect its bottom line making the risk far greater than the reward.
A casino is a business. It operates to maximize a profit. Cheating does not maximize profit in the long run. Quite the contrary, it hurts it. Every game in a casino has a house edge. If any game, any prop bet, any activity did not have a house edge, the casino would not offer it. It’s as simple as that. A casino has time on its side. It has enormous pools of capital to let the laws of probability work itself out. Yes, there may be a temporary swing in favor of the player but the key word there is temporary. Casinos are a license to print money. I have yet to see a casino go broke (with one exception and the man that did that went on to become President of the United States … but I digress). So do casinos cheat? Plain and simply, no. Why? They don’t have to.
Al O’Grady has been a blackjack dealer for over seven years. He is a freelance writer with an Economics degree and is currently pursuing a degree in Mathematics.
There are also a lot of roulette betting strategies as well as the various casino bonuses but they are for another edition of Casino Life Magazine.
*** This exclusive feature article was originally published in May 2024 edition of Casino Life Magazine Issue 167 ***
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