US casino dealers earned a median of $16.50 an hour in May 2025, tips included, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or $34,320 a year. Dealers who work on camera for online live casinos are advertised at about the same level: in October 2026, the largest studio operator’s US job postings guaranteed $17 to $17.25 an hour including a guaranteed tip rate, with advertised averages or ceilings of $23 to $27.
The spread around those middle figures is wide. Where you work, which games you deal and how much players tip move pay far more than the difference between a casino floor and a studio. This page sets out the official US figures, what studio postings in North America, Europe and Asia actually offer, and what the job asks of you in licences and shifts.
- Median hourly wage of US gambling dealers, tips included (May 2025)
- $16.50
- BLS OEWS
- Hourly wage at the 90th percentile: one dealer in ten earns at least this
- $37.06
- BLS OEWS
- Guaranteed starting pay per hour in Evolution's Atlantic City and Grand Rapids studio postings
- $17
- Postings, Sept and Oct 2026
- Gambling dealers employed in the US in May 2025
- 83,910
- BLS OEWS
The official US figures
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey counts “gambling dealers” (occupation 39-3011): people who “operate table games”, dealing cards or running other gambling equipment. The latest release covers May 2025. It counted 83,910 dealers with a mean wage of $20.46 an hour and a median of $16.50.
The mean sits well above the median because a minority of dealers earn far more than the rest. The 25th percentile is $12.41 an hour and the 75th is $23.65, but the 90th jumps to $37.06. A dealer at the 90th percentile earns 3.2 times as much as one at the 10th.
Source: BLS OEWS May 2025, occupation 39-3011 (data files fetched 9 October 2026)
See the numbers as a table
| Hourly wage, tips included | |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $11.56 |
| 25th percentile | $12.41 |
| Median | $16.50 |
| Mean | $20.46 |
| 75th percentile | $23.65 |
| 90th percentile | $37.06 |
| Measure | Hourly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $24,040 | |
| 25th percentile | $25,810 | |
| Median | $34,320 | |
| Mean | $42,550 | |
| 75th percentile | $49,180 | |
| 90th percentile | $77,090 |
BLS computes annual figures as the hourly rate times 2,080 hours, so they describe full-time, year-round work. Relative standard error: 0.4% for wages, 0.7% for employment. Every number in this table is from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national series for occupation 39-3011.
Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 (oe.data.0.Current and the BLS Public Data API)
Tips are inside these numbers
The OEWS survey includes tips in its wage figures, alongside base rates, commissions and production bonuses; it excludes overtime pay, holiday bonuses and profit-sharing (BLS OEWS FAQ). So $16.50 is not a base wage with tips still to come. It is the median of what employers reported as total hourly pay. Tips paid directly by players that never pass through the employer may be missing.
Pay by state
Where the table is matters more than any other factor in the data. Among the 35 states and territories with a published median, the lowest is Louisiana at $8.54 an hour and the highest is Oregon at $29.92. The two states with the most dealers, Nevada and California, sit on either side of the national median.
Source: BLS OEWS May 2025, state estimates
See the numbers as a table
| Median hourly wage, tips included | |
|---|---|
| Nevada | $12.35 |
| California | $16.87 |
| Florida | $18.51 |
| Washington | $28.22 |
| New Jersey | $15.87 |
| Pennsylvania | $23.19 |
| Mississippi | $13.58 |
| Louisiana | $8.54 |
| Michigan | $14.00 |
| Illinois | $15.00 |
| US median | $16.50 |
| State | Dealers employed | Median hourly | Median annual | Mean annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nevada | 17,390 | $25,690 | $35,510 | |
| California | 15,050 | $35,090 | $41,140 | |
| Florida | 5,370 | $38,500 | $53,150 | |
| Washington | 4,370 | $58,700 | $69,630 | |
| New Jersey | 3,030 | $33,000 | $43,760 | |
| Pennsylvania | 2,970 | $48,230 | $51,010 | |
| Mississippi | 2,730 | $28,250 | $39,750 | |
| Louisiana | 2,650 | $17,760 | $35,070 | |
| Michigan | 2,510 | $29,120 | $40,870 | |
| Illinois | 2,470 | $31,200 | $36,780 |
All figures are BLS OEWS May 2025 state estimates for occupation 39-3011, tips included. In Louisiana the mean is about double the median, a sign that a smaller group earns far more than most. The highest medians among all published states were Oregon ($29.92, 350 dealers), Wisconsin ($29.65, 630) and Arizona ($29.30, 1,680).
Source: BLS OEWS May 2025, state files
Employer type matters less than location. The 61,000 dealers at privately owned employers had a median of $32,240 a year; the 22,910 counted under local government ownership had $35,840. By industry, dealers in casino hotels had a median of $31,200 and those in gambling industries $36,330.
What online live studios pay
The BLS does not publish online studio dealers separately, so for this job we read the employer’s own postings. Every figure below comes from a posting by Evolution, the largest live casino provider, that was live on its SmartRecruiters careers page on 9 October 2026. These are advertised offers from one company, not statistics, and actual earnings depend on hours, tips and bonuses.
| Studio | Posted | Role | Advertised pay, as written |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic City, NJ | 2026-09-01 | Game host | $7 base + $10 guaranteed tip rate = $17/hr; $18 after 3 months; up to $23 with tips and bonuses |
| Philadelphia, PA | 2026-09-04 | Studio game host | $17.25/hr+ including base and guaranteed tip rate; "averaging $20–25/hr" |
| Grand Rapids, MI | 2026-10-05 | On-camera game host | From $17/hr including guaranteed tip floor, plus uncapped tips |
| Southfield, MI | 2026-09-09 | Game show host | Hourly base plus player tips, "averaging $40-50/hr" |
| Fairfield, CT | 2026-07-16 | Studio host | $16.94 base/hr; tips and bonuses "up to $27/hr" |
| Burnaby, BC | 2026-10-05 | Japanese-speaking presenter | $24.75/hr ($22 in 3-month probation); bonus up to $800/month |
| New Westminster, BC | 2026-09-26 | Night-shift presenter | $18.25 to $24.00/hr; bonus up to $800/month |
| Kaunas, Lithuania | 2026-09-21 | Game presenter | €7.06 to €14.85/hr gross + €1/hr transport and food bonus |
| Vilnius, Lithuania | 2026-08-04 | Game presenter | €7.06 to €15.35/hr gross + €2/hr transport and food bonus |
| Madrid, Spain | 2026-09-16 | French-speaking presenter | €18,152.93 gross a year, 35-hour contract, + bonus |
| Tbilisi, Georgia | 2026-09-16 | VIP presenter (1+ year experience) | 2,400 to 3,800 GEL (period not stated) + bonus |
| Cebu City, Philippines | 2026-07-01 | Game presenter | PHP 29,000 to 34,000 a month |
Each row quotes one posting listed under Sources. Amounts are in the posting's local currency; Canadian postings write $ without a currency code. Posted dates are the release dates shown by SmartRecruiters.
Source: Evolution postings via SmartRecruiters public API, read 9 October 2026
How US studio pay is built
The US postings split pay into a base wage and a “guaranteed tip rate”. In Atlantic City, the posting spells it out: “$7/hr base + $10/hr guaranteed tip rate = $17/hr total”, rising to $18 after three months, with “additional tips and monthly performance bonuses” and “earning potential up to $23 per hour”. So 59% of the guaranteed starting pay is labelled as tips. Philadelphia guarantees $17.25 including the tip rate and says presenters average $20 to $25. Game show hosting is a separate, better-paid role: a Southfield, Michigan posting advertises hourly base pay plus tips “averaging $40-50/hr”.
Set against the official state figures, the guaranteed starting rates sit above the dealer median in New Jersey and Michigan and below it in Pennsylvania. That compares a studio’s floor with a state’s middle, so it says nothing about whether studio dealers earn more over a year.
Source: Evolution postings (September and October 2026); BLS OEWS May 2025
See the numbers as a table
| Dollars per hour | |
|---|---|
| Atlantic City studio: guaranteed start | $17.00 |
| New Jersey dealers: median | $15.87 |
| Philadelphia studio: guaranteed start | $17.25 |
| Pennsylvania dealers: median | $23.19 |
| Grand Rapids studio: guaranteed start | $17.00 |
| Michigan dealers: median | $14.00 |
Europe and Asia
European postings quote wages without a tip system. Lithuanian studios state an hourly range of €7.06 to €14.85 gross in Kaunas and €7.06 to €15.35 in Vilnius, plus a fixed bonus per hour worked for transport and food. Madrid quotes €18,152.93 gross a year for a 35-hour contract, which works out to about €9.97 an hour (see the method below). A VIP presenter role in Tbilisi, which requires at least a year of casino experience, quotes 2,400 to 3,800 GEL; the posting does not say per what period. In Cebu City the range is PHP 29,000 to 34,000 a month.
Tips, tronc and how they are shared
In the US studios we checked, part of your guaranteed pay is a tip rate and players can tip on top: Philadelphia’s posting promises “paid breaks - earn tips during breaks”. The postings do not say how player tips are pooled between presenters.
In Britain, a pool of shared tips is known as a tronc. HMRC’s guidance E24 (last updated 18 July 2025) sets out when PAYE income tax and National Insurance are due on tips and troncs, and was updated in April 2025 on agencies and troncs. We could not read the detailed rules in the linked technical guidance, so we do not summarise them. If you are offered a tronc, ask who runs it and how points are allocated.
Licences, training and shifts
You usually need a licence before you deal. The requirement belongs to the place, not the employer, and studio postings name it as a condition of the job.
| Where | Requirement | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | Casino employee registration with the Division of Gaming Enforcement | $95 (official fee schedule) |
| Nevada | Gaming employee registration with the Gaming Control Board; the Board may object within its review | Not stated in the Q&A we fetched |
| Great Britain | Personal functional licence for dealers and croupiers; age 18+; up to 8 weeks to process | £231 |
| Pennsylvania studio | Must obtain and keep a Pennsylvania gaming license; background checks | Not stated |
| Michigan studio | Must obtain a Michigan gaming license; employer helps | Not stated |
| Connecticut studio | Must qualify for a Connecticut gaming license; pre-employment background check | Paid by the employer |
| British Columbia studio | Age 19+; must pass Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch licensing | Employer assists |
New Jersey, Nevada and Great Britain rows come from the regulators' own pages. Studio rows quote the requirements written in Evolution's postings for those studios.
Source: NJ DGE fee schedule; Nevada Gaming Control Board Q&A (revised 2025); UK Gambling Commission; Evolution postings
Training is short and paid. The postings describe two weeks of academy training in Madrid, a seven-day paid academy in Bucharest, and paid training through “Evolution Academy” in Atlantic City before hosting live games. None of the entry postings requires casino experience; the Tbilisi VIP role is the exception.
The job runs around the clock. Studios advertise fixed shift slots: Philadelphia lists 3pm to 11pm, 5pm to 1am, 7pm to 3am and 11pm to 7am, with weekend availability required. Lithuanian studios offer morning, afternoon and night shifts with paid breaks of 1.5 to 2 hours a day in Kaunas. Burnaby presenters “rotate between day, evening, and overnight shifts”, with a night shift bonus of up to $160 a month after probation.
If you are curious about what the work itself involves, including why the dealer cannot see you, read how a live studio runs a game.
Where a dealing job can lead
The BLS data shows a clear next rung. First-line supervisors of gambling services workers, the pit and floor supervisors who oversee dealers, earned a median $30.68 an hour ($63,820 a year) in May 2025, 1.86 times the dealer median, and there were 26,010 of them.
Source: BLS OEWS May 2025, occupations 39-3011, 39-3012, 39-3019 and 39-1013
See the numbers as a table
| Median hourly wage | |
|---|---|
| Gambling dealers | $16.50 |
| Gambling and sports book writers and runners | $16.82 |
| Gambling service workers, all other | $17.46 |
| First-line supervisors of gambling services workers | $30.68 |
Studios advertise their own tracks. Postings mention career growth in Atlantic City, a VIP team in Tbilisi for experienced presenters, and game show hosting in Michigan at roughly double the standard studio rate. The company had 22,475 employees at the end of 2025, according to its annual report, across 24 studios.
Dealing does not change the odds
A dealer’s pay does not come from players’ losses at their own table, and nothing a dealer does changes the house edge. If you play, our blackjack strategy chart shows the decisions that keep that edge low.
What we could not verify
- Online dealers in official statistics. BLS occupation 39-3011 counts dealers wherever employers report them. We could not confirm how studio presenters are coded, so the official figures describe all dealers, not online ones in particular.
- The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook. Its page for gambling services workers refused our requests, so we used OEWS data only and give no job-outlook projection.
- UK and EU statistics. We found no official UK or EU wage series that reports casino dealers or croupiers on their own, so we left those countries out rather than estimate.
- Other employers. We read only Evolution’s postings. Other live studios may pay differently, and we found no pay data published by them that we could verify.
- Actual earnings. Postings state guarantees, ranges and averages chosen by the employer. We have no data on what presenters actually take home after tips and bonuses.
- Currencies and periods. Canadian postings do not name the currency, and the Tbilisi posting does not say whether its range is monthly. We converted nothing.
- Nevada’s registration fee and tronc rules. The Nevada Q&A and HMRC page we fetched do not state these details, so we omit them.
About this page
We are not employment, tax or legal advisers. This page reports official statistics and published job postings as they stood on 9 October 2026. It can contain errors, postings close and wages change. Check the current posting, the regulator and your local tax authority before relying on any figure.