What Does 'Monkey' Mean in Blackjack? The Casino Slang Explained

I first heard the word ‘monkey’ in a casino on a Baccarat game at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas many years ago.

I was a shift manager at a downtown Las Vegas casino, and we were putting a Baccarat game on our casino floor.  I decided that I would write our rules and I was auditing ‘the big boys’ to see how they ran their games.  But that’s another story. . .

The players on the Caesars game were almost all Asian, and you may have heard the stereotyped description that Asian folks are all inscrutable and never show any emotion.

Ha – what a load of nonsense that is!

Years later, when I was supervising the Baccarat pit at Beau Rivage, in Biloxi, Mississippi, we had just opened, and my first customer was the wife of a (very) well-known owner of (probably) the largest fast-food franchise in US history.

She had taken an advance against her credit line of $800,000 and was playing with her companion. She was a warm and friendly person, low maintenance, and simply enjoying an after-dinner game for her evening entertainment.

Meanwhile, on the next table over, there was a spirited game going on, cash and cheques flying, with mostly Asian players. 

And the word ‘monkey’ was shouted several times during the ebb and flow of the game.

Then during a shuffle on her game, she called me over and said, ‘why are they calling the dealer a monkey – that’s not very nice’ as she motioned to the young redhead on the other game, who I knew to be a fine dealer.

Today, we’re going to take a look at the casino slang expression ‘monkey’, what it means, how it came into being, and why she thought they were attacking the dealer with it.  (They weren’t, but she thought they were).

Once you have read through this article, you will know what monkey actually means when used on a busy casino game and why she thought it was impolite.

Let’s get started.

What Does Monkey Mean at the Blackjack Table?

The word ‘monkey’ in that context refers to a face card (Jack, Queen, King).  And that’s it. It really is that simple.

It does come from Baccarat and in my experience is used almost exclusively by Asian players as they are imploring the Baccarat gods to deliver a Jack, Queen, or King as the third card to the Banker’s hand.  If you don’t know the rules of Baccarat, don’t worry – it’s not important here.

Btw – we have many articles about how to play the most popular table games in a casino in the ‘Academy’. We have more than 100 articles about Baccarat, Blackjack, Craps and Roulette – how to play, what to do, what not to do and so on. They are all written by experts, and from the ‘what’s best for the players’ pov.  They will take you from an absolute beginner to an expert. 

Okay – back to ‘monkey’. Over time, the word has come to be used on Blackjack, too. 

It means the same thing, i.e. a face card, but on Blackjack it can be the players asking to make their blackjack, to bust the dealer’s hand or to fulfil whatever the player’s needs are at that particular moment to win their hand. 

Should I Say Monkey in a Casino?

Some of the answers I’ve seen when doing a little online research indicate that some people think it may be a racist expression. It’s not.

There is absolutely no reason not to say monkey in a casino. It is a well-known and common slang expression for a face card, and no one except the most oversensitive wokesters are going to think twice about it.

Why ‘Monkey’?  Where Does it Come From?

Now that’s an interesting question. 

Some people will say it’s from the word ‘Monarchy’. They go on to say that many Asians have a problem pronouncing the word, and it comes out as ‘monkey’.  Which I think is ridiculous. 

Over the years, I have met many Asian players. Some are highly educated, sophisticated world citizens, and they would have no problem pronouncing ‘Monarchy’.

Others speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malay, and a whole host of various dialects.

The word for monkey in Mandarin sounds like Ho See. In Cantonese, it sounds like How See.

I read somewhere that the words for ‘face card’ in Indonesian are ‘Mon yeah’.  

And I think ‘perhaps now we’re getting closer’.

But then I decided to call a major player with whom I had a good personal relationship when I was a VP at one of the casinos where I worked.

Let’s call him Robert  – not his real name. 

He’s originally from Shanghai but has lived in the USA for years. 

Robert is an educated guy and a very successful businessman. He owns an office building in San Francisco.  And a golf course in Scotland that he’s never been to.  And a couple of other major assets around the world.  And he told me he just sold an office building in a Pacific rim country.

And I asked him where ‘monkey’ comes from.

And he laughed and said, ‘it’s just a slang word for a face card. That’s it. Nothing more’.

So then I called an executive host that I hired at one of the other casinos where I used to work.  She was born and raised in Taiwan, speaks Mandarin as her first language and English and Vietnamese fluently.  Let’s call her Caroline (not her real name).

She has many years of high-end casino experience.

She told me pretty much the same thing. 

That it’s a slang expression for a Jack, Queen or King.  That’s it.

Which is a noun, meaning a face card. 

No hidden meanings, no racist undertones, just a common casino slang word.

Paint is a well-known casino slang word used by English speakers in casinos worldwide.

So I’m going with Robert and Caroline’s explanation.

It’s just a Mandarin slang word for a face card that is now used by speakers of the other Asian languages.  Nothing more.

Conclusion

So there you have it. 

Monkey is an Asian slang word for a Jack, Queen, or King used in casinos worldwide.

It has no undesirable overtones; it’s just common casino slang.

And as always, good luck out there.