Part V: Regional & Cultural · Casino Slang & Historical Terms
6.23 Belly Card
Slang — Cheating
A “belly card” is a card that has been secretly held out (palmed) by a cheater and introduced into play at an advantageous moment. The term “belly” refers to the hidden card being held against the player’s stomach or body. Belly cards are a fundamental technique of card cheating, requiring significant sleight-of-hand skill. Casino surveillance and dealing procedures (including mandatory hand positioning) are designed to prevent belly card introduction.
In practice
Belly card techniques have been largely neutralized by modern casino procedures including no-hand games (where players cannot touch cards), continuous shuffling machines, and overhead camera coverage of all table positions.
More in Slang — Cheating
One entry from the Casino Industry Glossary — 1,157 terms written for surveillance, compliance and operations professionals rather than for players. Definitions describe industry usage; where a term carries a regulatory meaning, verify against the instrument that governs your jurisdiction.