Croupier

A croupier is the person who takes and pays out bets at a gambling table. The croupier is standing in for the house but usually has no personal stake in the game. Games that commonly use croupiers are blackjack, roulette, baccarat and craps.

The word derives from Old French, where it referred to the hindmost person of two riding the same horse. The word croup referred to the rump of a quadruped. A person who rides behind another person on a horse is seated on the animal's rump, hence the name.