Being a Casino Host Has Its Downside
Eli Segall of the Las Vegas Sun wrote a great article from an actual host’s perspective. Being a casino host sounds like a job that should be fun and include a high-level charm and a celebrity touch. According to Mr. Segall, it seems more like being a high-paid adult babysitter. Being a Casino Host Has Its Downside. Let’s take a look at the clientele casino hosts “take care of:”
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I’ve seen people throw temper tantrums, throw stuff, scream at us. A customer threatened to murder me once. I feel bad for dealers, though, because they have to sit there and take it. I have the freedom to walk away if I don’t want to deal with someone. I’ve seen people throw cards at dealers, flick cigarettes at them, blow smoke in their face; I’ve seen people take change out of their pockets and throw it at them. People have thrown chairs; I’ve seen a shift manager get punched; I’ve seen glass coffee mugs thrown across the high-limit room; I’ve seen people try to flip the table and fight security.
“Confessions of a casino host,” Eli Segall, Las Vegas Sun
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About High Rollers
The people hosts serve, such as High Rollers, tend to gamble more and more as they continue to lose. I think it’s due to the arrogance and denial of house advantage boxed together with a pretty bow with directions to GA. It’s too bad hosts still have to take care of their gambling problem since their job depends on it.
Many of these whales also have a sense of entitlement unrivaled by a group of middle school students. Everyone wants what they think is coming to them….and more!
We talk about customers’ sense of entitlement all the time. I wonder where it comes from, because it never used to be like that. Casino hosts used to be untouchable; a host had the cush job that everyone wanted. There was no calling up and harassing the hosts. Our host-line, the calls we get sometimes, I just stare at the phone and ask why. People demand comps, or they use it as the complaint department. I had a guy who ate at our casino and said he got food poisoning three weeks earlier, and what was I going to do for him? I don’t know what he was looking for; I have no control over what he eats. I told him he had to talk to the manager of the restaurant.
Eli Segall, Las Vegas Sun
Bad Tippers Acting Badly
The people the hosts serve don’t tip very well. First, I understood that tipping a host was inappropriate from the casino’s point of view, but I stand corrected. Cash, as well as gifts, are acceptable. Some have asked for their cash tip back due to bullet #1 – wow!
The people casino hosts serve often behave poorly. Frequently, players can act violently towards dealers, pit bosses, security, and, yes, the hosts themselves. Usually, hosts get told about their client’s bad manners by the phone instead of in person, and then the host has to make it all better. It’s like babysitting but with adults.
The Job Listing
Hosts have a job that in theory would be cushy — selling dreams of casino action to people who don’t really need much arm-twisting, and giving them free stuff for betting big. Job postings talk vaguely about their need to build a “proactive relationship” with customers, fix “any problem or perceived guest inconvenience,” maintain “close ties with targeted guests” and provide “complimentaries … in accordance with program qualifications.”
What these ads don’t say is that the job, in the eyes of one local host, can involve baby-sitting compulsive gamblers who threaten, curse, cheat and sometimes get violent.
“Confessions of a casino host,” Eli Segall, Las Vegas Sun
Related Post – The Ultimate Guide to Casino Hosts
After reading the article, I can say glamour is not the reason to be a host. It’s hard work to deal with unruly, entitled adults. I have so much more respect and understanding for hosts. Maybe we all should try realizing the host you randomly contact may have other people they are taking care of – probably a whale misbehaving.
That’s all for now.
Binbin