Casino Staff: Pit Bosses
Overseeing the vast hustle and bustle of the casino floor is the most important person in the room – the Pit Boss.
A Pit Boss supervises employees in the casino to keep things running trouble-free. Even though he or she is the boss of the casino floor (sometimes called “the pit”), we sometimes wonder if the word, “Pit boss” comes from “boss” and “pit bull”. That’s because the Pit Boss oversees the employees, but is also somewhat of a guard – he or she sees (and knows) all.
The Pit Boss’ main job, however, is to supervise the floor persons. A floor person’s job is to make sure the casino floor runs smoothly. This can range from handing hostile customers, making sure dealers (and customers) are honest, keeping games going at a certain pace, being the ‘face’ of the casino, and various other administrative work. Nearly all pit bosses start off as floor persons. While floor persons and pit bosses can overlap in duties, the pit boss oversees more, and has the final authority. Essentially, Pit Bosses watch the watchers.
A typical pit boss has four main responsibilities when watching the floor persons and the pit. The first is to know the games being played so they can make sure everything is going as it should. The more a pit boss knows about a game, the better he or she will able to tell if something is wrong. The ability to notice suspicious activities protects against anything that can threaten the casino’s assets.
The second responsibility is being the ‘face’ of the casino. While floor persons do assist customers, it’s the guy (or girl) in the nice suit that has the final say. Using good (and quick) judgment to find a fine line between making the customer happy and enforcing the casino’s rules is important. So we need “people persons” as pit bosses when they sort out issues with people.
The third responsibility is sort of being a one-person glee club who keeps the vibe happy and upbeat. Since the casino business is a people business, pit bosses make sure dealers; comp girls; and everyone else around the customers are pleasant and upbeat. Pit bosses will motivate employees to keep a certain “party time” vibe going on so customers will stay and return.
And last, we have basic administrative duties. Pit bosses will keep count of the cash, track of the number of games per night, figuring out the average take, see which dealers did well, and track any other data requested by the casino.
To be honest, it’s a great job for those who like the casino atmosphere – if that sounds like you, the road to becoming a Pit Boss is long (like we mentioned, you almost always start off as a floor person), but the rewards can be many.
