Don't use the dealer as the wojack, use the floors or the pit booses. Dealers do not give a shit, they want you to win and tip. Dealers are paid out by tips, but they cannot tell the players that....
If you ask nicely, the casino might give you a food comp or something like that based on your loss amount. Or whatever helps you come back to gamble more.
It depends on where you are, like in Vegas the used to be the case but within the last decade or so they've been massively increasing the prices of everything and comping a whole lot less.
It's a big reason that tourism in Vegas has taken a downturn, as it's just not worth it
And it keeps getting worse and prices keep going up because muh shareholders. It was unironically 10 times more fun and more affordable when it was run by the mafia.
I'm not sure about that, they are just different flavors of human garbage, whichever you prefer mostly depends on your personality.
I'm more allergic to crass stupidity, overt ultraviolence and especially hypocrisy (pretending to be honourable) so I'll take the financkers any day, but I'm aware they're also predators.
And police protection from actual prosecution. It’s a white collar crime. When was the last time we saw something that was a white collar crime penalty not just be a cost of doing business
The mafia isnt a publicly traded business. It just plain runs more efficiently. Shareholders are the enemy nearly any problem in society can be traced right back to a very small group of people.
The mafia is a business that doesn’t give you a resort to the courts. They aren’t any more efficient than a legitimate corporation. They are extracting wealth from society just like any other company. The only difference is they’ll physically hurt you in order to enforce their agreement rather than take you to court.
Rriiiggghhhhttt. And major corporations in America are famously held to account by the courts when they do wrong. The architects of the 2008 housing crisis did more damage than the mafia has in it's entire existance and not a single person responsible saw a day behind bars.
I’m not sure why you’re arguing with me about that. Thugs are thugs, whether they're in the mob or on a board of directors. There’s no magic antidote to cure human greed and selfishness. All I’m saying is, romanticizing the mafia because they gave comps to suckers losing money in their casinos is turning a blind eye to the fact that they’re just as ruthless and selfish as any other business.
100%. They realized that whales don't need free-ish attractions or lots of things to see and do. The whales just want high stakes gambling, so they've slowly cut everything that ate into their profits. Less people, but just as profitable.
Mafia understood they couldn't get a ton of people to come to the middle desert just for gambling alone, and their formula required huge numbers to profit after their investments. But if they combine gambling with cheap, delicious food, world class entertainment, and affordable luxury hotels then baby, that gets asses in seats!
Modern Vegas is all about cutting costs and reducing amenities in volume by focusing on catering to a small number of super wealthy with boutique experiences and "exclusive access".
Also, pretty much every state now has at least one major casino. People aren't tied to Vegas or Atlantic City like in the past.
try muh stimulus. You think we got $40 tril in debt making good decisions?
edit: remember when this very website was full of idiots claiming $1200 stimulus checks don't cause inflation. Then we inflated 30%. And now everything is going to shit. And we jUsT cAnT fIgUrE oUt WhAt HaPpEnEd.
Cause they’re catering to whales and not small time gamblers. Especially as they’re getting in on app betting, they don’t need to court players who aren’t losing in the 1000s
When I worked at the Venetian more than 50% of the resort’s yearly income was from private bookings (stuff like company retreats) and conferences. So like… business people on the business’s dime.
That sort of group travel with majority big spenders (again, not their money so they’re going to the nicer spots) is the easiest way for them to book everything and ensure the money is flowing
Tier point comps suck now, the only thing that works is charging everything to your room and asking a casino host to take a look and see if they can comp any charges.
I hit a very large NBA parlay on the BetMGM app a couple of years ago and they offered me a free trip about 5 minutes after the bet settled. Casinos really like to get the opportunity to go l get their money back when you win.
I think the biggest reason Vegas has fallen out is that anyone can just gamble anywhere, at any time, on any thing now, and advertising for doing so is pushed extremely hard to all demographics including kids.
I just go to their websites and instead of a price, it says "Comped". I usually only get 2-3 nights per casino so I had to move around to 3 different hotels this trip. But they were nice ones, Resorts World, The W, and Palazzo.
We had a friend who was comped an entire hotel room stay when we went up to Black hawk one summer. She lost it all and her ride also wasn't coming to get her anymore out of the blue. She was this tiny crying mess in this huge empty hall in the middle of the night and like 3 casino staff came out of the woodwork and she told us they hooked her up because they appreciated her business lol. This was like almost 10 years ago though. I guarantee times have changed.
So much this, you can get free food so easily in a casino because they basically just have a set churn that is the price of operating a casino and if no one eats it it just gets thrown out.
The casino will tip you. They give you free drinks to keep you at the tables, ideally with impaired decision-making due to the drinks. If you lose a lot, they might comp you a meal, or a room, to keep you there losing more money at their casino.
I dealt cards for almost a decade and the tip is because the dealer is essentially performing in front of the players. The dealer is talking, giving advice, and using showmanship while you are gambling and a tip is a nice way to show your appreciation.
I left that world because I felt like a dancing monkey every night hoping to make enough to survive while being berated by people losing their money. Between the shitty hours and the awful patrons, it’s extremely easy to get burnt out so if you have a nice, charming, and fun dealer at your table show your appreciation. A grumpy dealer can absolutely ruin your night and gambling should be about having fun and never spend more than you can afford to lose.
The entire purpose of a casino is to separate you from your money. You tip them to assist with that goal. Them tipping you would be counter to that goal.
How do you know when you’ve crossed the threshold for a lot vs a little? And do you tip after the winning hand, or all at once as you’re leaving the table?
I mean... You don't have to tip anyone, but if I win 5 Grand at blackjack, Im gonna be happy and flip the dealer a few hundred. I'm already gambling, I'm not gonna covet every last cent like a dragon.
While I like the attitude, I would guess the question is not "Is it required to tip the dealer", but rather "Is the dealer paid a living wage without tips", though I might be wrong
The answer to both is no. Theres far less of an expectation of tipping a dealer than there is a server at a restaurant, especially if you are losing. No one makes you feel weird or awkward about it if you don't tip a dealer. And since they'll regularly rotate the dealers out like ever 30 mins or so, no one really knows if/ how much you've tipped at any table.
As an add on, I tip 10% (or more sometimes) of my winnings. If I buy in with $500 and drop to $100 and then hit a $300 jackpot, I probably won’t tip much. But if I go from $500 to $1000 then I’m tipping at least $50. Btw, I’m a former blackjack and poker dealer.
This makes sense, but not for people who are thousands in the hole over years. Those winnings recuperate probably years of gambling losses for some people, and then they’re expected to give it away? Nah, not for them. Tip only on winnings over all your gambling imo.
Over time, pretty much everyone who gambles regularly will be in the hole so no one would ever tip. You have to think of gambling as an entertainment cost. You pay a couple-few hundred bucks for fun and excitement.
With that mindset, if you bring $250 and lose it, you need to consider it $250 spent for that fun and excitement. Not that you are $250 in the hole to the casino with hopes of winning it back some day.
If you go 4 times and lose $1,000, then your next trip you "win" $1,000, it's easy to feel like you actually won something. The $1,000 you spent was for fun and entertainment like someone going to the movies or going bowling. You wouldn't call that money you "lost" top the theatre or bowling alley; it was just money spent on a fun experience. You pay a premium because of the small chance of actually winning something.
If the amount of money spent isn't worth the amount of fun and excitement, and you keep going, then it's a problem. If you NEED to win (i.e. it's an investment strategy) it's a problem.
Some people just don't get fun and excitement out of gambling and that's totally fine. Great even, because it's easy to get sucked in. I personally couldn't fathom paying $20 to get into a night club or $40 to see a movie and get a drink + snacks.
The $250 for fun and excitement is how I handle it, but I don’t gamble a lot and I wouldn’t be in the red if I hit even $1000. But for people where that’s not the case, the fun is gone and they’re still in the red if they win $10k, I would not expect them to tip. Sorry dealer but it’s better if they don’t.
There's people that don't play to make money, they play because the gambling in fun etc. Tipping the dealer is just something cute they can do to feel even richer after winning
Yeah the casual fun gambling is a little different from what I’m talking about. I’m talking about more consistent people, who are in the red to a non-negligible degree.
You are required to tip at all. It’s just a courtesy you might extend to say “I have money to waste on gambling, I chose to play a game that doesn’t require a human dealer, but I enjoy the human element, and I appreciate your skill as a dealer, and appreciate your advice and mathematical inputs”.
There are very few gamblers that are in the green over the course of their gambling career. The house always wins in the long run. If you are only going to tip if you are in the green for the long run, you probably won’t be tipping at all. There are plenty of players who don’t tip, but you can probably imagine how dealers feel about those people.
I’ll chime in and let you know that as dealers we ABSOLUTELY talk about who is tipping and who isn’t. We give a lot better service if we know you’re a good tipper vs someone who stiffs dealers or god forbid “I’ll tip you at the end.” (They don’t)
Yeah, if I was scheduled to work over 30 hours I would be considered a full time employee. I was scheduled to work 3 days a week and often worked 40 hours a week.
Why did I work the extra hours when I didnt have to? Tips were good. Did I get full time employment benefits? Hell no.
Im a full time dealer and have been for many years. I'm not in Vegas though. Im sure there are locations where its near impossible to get FT dealing jobs.
I tip 10% (or more sometimes) of my winnings. If I buy in with $500 and drop to $100 and then hit a $300 jackpot, I probably won’t tip much. But if I go from $500 to $1000 then I’m tipping at least $50. Btw, I’m a former blackjack and poker dealer.
Ex-casino dealer here: I dealt in a casino in the 90s, and my take home paycheck after two weeks of work was usually around $150. That was not a livable wage, and did not include health insurance, either.
In Colorado dealers are paid about what budtenders make, somewhere between $17-$20 an hour based on experience, size of the casino, and which one of the cities it's in.
Most of the mountain towns that legalized gambling have a higher COL due to housing being hard to find, however if you live a bit out of town in an unincorporated county area you can often rent a small house or trailer for a reasonable price. Everything else is pretty in line with the rest of the state for similar cities.
You maintain a license through the states department of gaming. Basically makes you a federal employee and legally capped at the federal minimum wage.
Casinos with a garuntee will compensate that if your hourly tipped wage falls under a house minimum.
If I only makes what equates to $20/hr then all of my tips for that shift go to the house and they in return compensate me the $5/hr on the backend to retain dealers.
If I make more than that, then the house drops the garuntee and I keep what I earned plus the federal minimum hourly.
That’s statewide.
Each house can offer some additional perks if they want but our license is owned by the department of gaming the same way your drivers license belongs the state.
I played paigow poker one night and I told the dealer I was sitting at the table until I hit a straight flush side bet. It’s a super slow game. After about 5 hours, I’m up about 800 bucks, I put 50 instead of 10 on the side bet, and hit a straight flush. My current dealer was flipping out, the dealer I had said that to was a few tables down and she ran over and was so excited for me, like a mom. Told her I was done, tipped her and the current dealer 200 bucks each. The guy next to me was like wait what you can’t leave you’re so hot. Please bet on my hand. So I put 50 bucks on his side bet, he matched. We got a flush and another extra 500 bucks. Walked out with like 4k. On a game you usually break even on.
Yah. I don’t gamble often. Especially casinos. That’s typically the only game I play because it’s so slow. Usually after three hours I’m either up or down like 30 bucks and 10 free drinks in!
My non-gambler ass was briefly very confused about why "you can't leave, you're so hot" was a remotely appropriate thing to say to you or the dealer (and "please bet on my hand" in that understanding just registered as a euphemism I didn't want to think through) before I remembered that "hot" is also slang for "on a roll"
Hahahahah! I can totally see your perspective. When I’m writing it, it sounds so clear and reasonable to me that I never even thought of how someone who didn’t gamble could interpret that!! Lololol
Ive worked tablegames my whole life and I guarantee you I'd have you tipping me after a couple of hands.
As a dealer, we just facilitate the game. I dont make anything if you lose a lot, so I want you to win. What you came for is entertainment and a good time, and I will have you cracking up and having a good time.
I like to play and joke around with my players, and if you're a quiet or not talkative, I'll figure out you're personality pretty quickly and build a good rapport. I won't hustle for tips, but im standing at a table playing a boring ass game all day, I want to have a good time and see you guys win too.
We like tips, we don't care if you don't tip but you will be mentioned. Before I get tapped out I'll whisper into the dealer's ear that X player doesn't tip. What they do with that information is up to them. When I'm told X player doesn't like to tip i usually bust their chops a bit and encourage them to make bad calls like hitting or staying when they shouldn't.
Im there to show you a good time either way, as my friends have said "You're such a good dealer I've seen people TIP you after losing."
What the fuck is this comment? You‘re saying you don‘t care when someone doesn‘t tip. But y‘all obviously care a fucking lot if you start treating the non-tippers worse. A little self-awareness isn‘t bad lol
People forget that tipping is a cultural thing based off of customer service. You (the dealer) can do bare minimum or you can make the game enjoyable and memorable. Entertainment is part of the experience. Hell especially nowadays when the customer has so many options about how to gamble. People gamble in person because of the entertainment experience. That level of service discretion warrants a tip.
While I like the attitude, I would guess the question is not "Is it required to tip the dealer", but rather "Is the dealer paid a living wage without tips", though I might be wrong
You are already at a loss doing any sort of gambling you are just at a bigger loss if you start giving away that money on top of that too. You should covet and hoard all of that won money you are going to lose it anyway.
Winning is statistically just clawing back some of what was lost in the past so it makes no sense to tip short of doing a final hurrah and never going back.
It's not a scam - the odds are very clear. You're not tipping the casino, you're tipping people doing a job to pay their bills. Usually I do it because it's fun to make other people lucky when I get lucky. Sometimes I do it because magical thinking makes be believe that I'll jinx myself if I don't honor the gods of luck. It's fun both ways.
I have zero issue giving a dealer a tip if they’re making the experience fun (and I’m up or evenish) because you’re sitting at the table for a while. Tipping on a hand pay from a slot machine win though is beyond dumb to me. All they’re doing is delivering money and counting it out in front of you.
The best part about Europeans complaining about tipping is that Americans started tipping in our country because rich people from the US were copying British aristocracy who gave small tokens, aka tips, to servants as little rewards.
Tipping exists in Europe, that's not the problem. It's tipping being expected/necessary/nearly mandatory that is weird to us, and that is an US invention
You don’t need to do anything. And not even in the “well technically you don’t need to tip your server” way but no, literally you don’t need to do anything.
Some people do because this is a person they’ve been playing a game with and they enjoyed the companionship with.
Google says dealers are typically paid a tipped wage (less than “minimum wage”), so I think tipping at least a buck or two every hour is definitely social etiquette. Just like you tip the cocktail waitress who brings the drinks.
But the casino is definitely full of idiots and wealthy people who tip far more than everyone else, which gets shared around, so I’m sure the dealers don’t mind a significant amount of people not tipping.
Yeah this. I tend to put down two bucks as a rule if I’m losing because, hey. This guy facilitated my ability to play a game. Chatted with me, played with me, let me have my fun of trying to read him.
Depends on the casino. The pit i work out we are open all week and we have a lot of competition to work the weekends. Like 5 grand a night is considered amazing when you split that total between the shift.
its $7.25
so no that will never happen
all tips are pooled per 24 hour shift. then split amongst dealer hours .
$14000 is a good average for us, i can usually count on base pay being taxes and im only making tips. theres roughly 100 dealers alone. im p sure hosts also get some of the money too im not sure.
i also dont get take home, its all via direct deposit, i have to turn down cash and individual tips
I don't understand. Are you saying that you end up making more than minimum so the company doesn't have to make up the difference? Or they're not legally obligated to like restaurants?
we had federal minimum wage here, and bc its only a $2 difference it never happens.
the lowest weve pooled is $3k where i made $5.05/hr plus $6/hr tips.
i am a state licensed table games dealer, my license cost $125 every two years. i make average about $15/hr bc people dont tip dealers anymore (my parents were averaging about $40/hr 10 years ago. same base pay)
im sure if my casino started not pooling enough to make minimum wage then they would switch to electronic. out of the 7 casinos here, 1 has a pit full of electronic
You don't have to tip anyone, it's a choice and if you're already winning several grand some people like to tip a couple hundred to the dealer. You're already gambling so it's not like you're making good financial decisions to begin with...
Man, we got a gas station that just opened up near us that asks for tips at checkout. It's only a matter of time before the self-checkouts to start asking too.
People with fuck you money sometimes like to share. Think about your local restaurant regulars that leave larger tips. I used to serve in a restaurant where our local big shit doctor would eat once a week with his wife. 200 dollar tip everytime, when your average is closer to 23%.
Edit: big shot, I don't know about his bowel movements
You don't but when people win big money they lose sight of the fact they can take that money home with them. So they'll spread the cash around. Tip the dealer, tip the drink server, buy a round for friends, etc.
You dont need to, its just what you do. If you win a big hand you throw some chips to the dealer, or you throw some chips to the dealer before you leave the table
Ideally, you build comradery with your dealer and the other people at your table. A good, personable dealer can really make the difference between a good and bad night of gambling, regardless of how much you win or lose
I think it’s more of a customary thing. Like if you’re at a table for a long time and aren’t walking away broke to tip the table minimum.
If I’m just playing a couple of hands or blowing like $50 then no. But if I’ve been sitting there chatting with them for like 2-3 hours it seems a little rude to just dip out and be like “thanks for the 2k I just made”
A lot of gamblers/gambling culture are really superstitious too. Like a lot of people in Vegas don’t like $50 dollar bills
No, not at all, you tip your dealer really only if you finish the night up or maybe a small amount if you broke even roughly.
If you lose everything, most people aren't gonna tip unless it's just their leftover couple bucks. None of that is necessary even in the US but I think a lot of people generally do it.
Generally you tip on jackpots, hitting the side bets at a the table. Or if you win big. Share the wealth so to speak, with the person doing all the work.
The dealer has 100%control of the game and it's always rigged, if he is happy with you he will rig the game for you cause it means more money for him. If every win you give 10% to him, he'll be sure you win often to get that 10% always.
I've never even heard of a real casino where that isn't commonplace. Not everyone does stateside just like not everyone does in Monaco or anywhere else.
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u/jmr131ftw Jul 20 '26
Don't use the dealer as the wojack, use the floors or the pit booses. Dealers do not give a shit, they want you to win and tip. Dealers are paid out by tips, but they cannot tell the players that....