South Point Switches Its Poker Room to Slide Dealing
Jason Sanborn says the change is meant to curb exposed-card risk without banning electronics at the table.
South Point Casino’s poker room in Las Vegas has switched to slide dealing, replacing the old habit of pitching cards. Under the new method, dealers slide the cards instead of tossing them, a change meant to cut the risk of exposed cards being seen by other players.
Poker room manager Jason Sanborn said the move was driven by growing concern about game protection. He said online discussion about AI, Meta Glasses, cameras and hearing devices made him think harder about what operators can do to protect the game, and he said he does not think it is reasonable to ban electronics at the table.
Sanborn also said slide dealing is the best protection against exposed cards that operators can currently use. The article says South Point adopted the change in the wake of several major cheating scandals over the last couple of years, including 2024 arrests in Europe of people described as casino gangsters who used cell phones to secretly film cards during the deal.
The report also points to other high-tech cheating methods that have drawn attention, including low-angle photos of card faces, a cell phone taped to a player’s stomach, and microscopic earpieces. Against that backdrop, South Point chose slide dealing as part of an approach to prevent exposed-card viewing and avoid a bigger crackdown on cell phone usage.
That matters at South Point because the room is not known for high-stakes action and mainly serves Las Vegas locals. PokerStars implemented slide dealing at European Poker Tour events in the year prior to the article, where the company said slide dealing keeps phones or smart devices from catching card faces during a pitched deal.
There is still a trade-off. Critics say sliding the cards slows the action at the table.
