Skimming means taking part of a business’s takings for yourself before they are recorded, so the reported total is lower than the real one. The phrase “skimming off the top” is used in everyday life as well as in land-based casinos, and it almost always describes something illegal.
In the casino world, skimming refers to a gambling establishment diverting money out of the business, often through a third party who is not on its payroll, so that the cash never appears in the books and escapes tax. Methods vary. One example is rigging a game so that the winner is someone working with the casino: the payout leaves the building and is quietly deducted from the declared profit. Whatever the method, the core idea stays the same: money disappears before it is counted.
Controls that prevent skimming
Land-based casinos protect the money trail with supervised counts, camera coverage and reconciliation of the drop against meters and records. Online, every bet and payout is logged by the platform, so reconciling game rounds, wallet transactions and reported revenue in the back office is the equivalent safeguard.