"Clearing The Hands" Is Meant To Show That Nothing Is Being Concealed

Published on September 20th, 2021 3:07 pm EST


If you have ever gone to a casino, you have almost surely seen a casino dealer clap their hands before leaving the table.

In addition, they will usually put their hands up in an exaggerated fashion before clapping their hands and leaving the table.

Why do they do this?

This action - showing their hands and then clapping - is called "clearing the hands".

This is done so that the players at the table, as well as the casino cameras, can see that the dealers doesn't have anything concealed in their hands or up their sleeves.

This could be casino chips, cash or cards.

The hands are upturned and shown to the camera and players, so that everyone can see that there is nothing being cupped in the hands of the casino employee.

In addition, the hands are clapped so that if there was anything concealed in the sleeve of the casino worker (such as chips), it would almost certainly fall out.

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Cameras and eagle-eyed customers will usually spot if an employee is stealing chips or cash off of the table, though "clearing the hands" adds another layer of protection for everybody involved.

"Clearing the hands" is also done voluntarily by casino employees to show that they are not, in fact, stealing anything from the table.