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If you have ever wondered what a croupier is, and what exactly it is that they do, then you are not alone. By their official modern definition, a croupier is member of staff employed by a casino who’s task it is to assist in the conduct of the game, like roulette, at a gambling table. More often that not, their primary role is one of taking bets and distributing payouts. The original meaning of the word ‘croupier’ was someone who stands behind a player whilst they are gambling. Their one and only job was to look after the gambler’s cash, handing it to him as and when required during a game.

The word itself is derived from the French word ‘croup’ which strangely means a horse’s rump. If you’re wondering what that has to do with gambling, you are just as perplexed as I was when I learned that fact. According to a French friend of mine, the analogy can be compared to the idea of riding horseback. Strange ideology, but who are we to argue with history. The word obviously later went on to mean anyone who is employed to distribute money around a gambling table.

The training process to become a croupier is actually quite interesting. Dealers will very often start their life as a croupier by learning the game of blackjack. Why? It’s simply, popular, and even if the dealer does make an error the casino loses very little money. In Europe, however, roulette is the game of choice when training a croupier. The game tends to be more popular in this area, and there isn’t much in the way of potential human error, so it makes perfect sense.

In Australia and the USA, aspiring croupiers are actually required to hold a special gambling license. This license indicates that proper police background checks have been carried out, and even requires that you have a clean credit rating. If the croupier doesn’t have a license, they are quite simply not permitted to work in a casino. This is to ensure that a good croupier can always be relied upon to be fair, unbiased, and most of all trustworthy.