The total amount of casino gambling I’ve done is close to negligible. In support of that, I’ll note that my career net in blackjack is positive (about $7).
But the last time I played was a number of years ago. I may soon have another chance. I’m given to understand that it’s now common and perhaps expected that winners tip the dealer. I have several questions:
How much is expected?
Do you tip each time you win, or on some other schedule?
What is the dealer expected to provide (or to have provided) in return?
Does this not simply make already unfavorable odds worse?
Rate varies greatly from nothing to extremely generous. It depends on the person, how long the stay at the table, and how much they win.
Tipping casino dealers is more variable than tipping other types of service workers. Some people tip when they are winning, some win they are losing, and some when they leave the table. You can tip them directly or place bets for them.
A steady stream of bets that you can place yourself.
Of course it does but some people believe in luck, karma, fate or just like to help service workers in general.
There’s no set rules, give more when you win and less when you’re losing. I generally tip about $5 per hour, plus lay out a few $1 side bets for the dealer if I get on a hot streak. If the dealer is friendly and helpful and the table is good (everyone is in a good mood, cheering for each other, being polite, etc) I’ll tip a bit more.
No, it’s not expected every time you win. But if you’re playing at a $15 minimum table and you get dealth three blackjacks in a row, you may want to toss him $5 or so.
Well, he is expected to “provide” good cards (if he busts a lot or deals lots of blackjacks) then give him or her a tip, even though it’s out of his hands. If the dealer is being friendly and helpful and you’ve got a good rapport with him, then give him a tip - maybe a $1 side bet.
Yes, but tough beans. The dealers get paid crap and if they’re helping you have a good time at the table, then you should reward them, even if you aren’t winning (although most dealers don’t expect someone who isn’t winning to tip them).
My usual procedure is to place a bet for the dealer everytime I get a blackjack. If I am playing a $5 hand, that means I got paid $7.50. I’ll put $1.50 of this as a dealer bet on the next hand. There more I win, the more the dealer gets (potentially) tipped.
Place the bet for the dealer on the dealer side of your bet, in a seperate pile. It is understood that this is a bet for the dealer. If your hand wins, he wins, and gets paid at the same rate.
It sounds as if a dealer at a $10 table with 3 or 4 players might do rather well in tips - would $25/hour or more be likely?
And don’t the casinos use cameras to monitor everything? So if a dealer asks for a salary above minimum wage, is his boss likely to say “Look, Jack, you made about $20/hour above minimum wage last week - forget about a raise from us.” ?
Where it gets a little trickier is whether or not you have to increase the bet for the dealer if you double down or split. Personally, I think it’s the right thing to do, but I don’t know if there’s an etiquette or house rule either way.
It can also get a little tricky with other games. For example, it is somewhat common for the player to place a bet for the dealer on the fortune bonus side bet in Fortune Pai-Gow Poker (normally when on a hot streak or as an attempt to “bribe” the dealer into getting hands that result in a bonus.) One time I was playing two hands alone at the table when I got four of a kind on one of them with the envy bonus (in this case, $5) triggered for the other hand (triggering the envy bonus requires a $5 side bet) and with a dollar out for the dealer. I had the same bet on the hand that got the four of a kind, but since the envy bonus isn’t recursive, it wasn’t an issue. I got paid $125, the dealer got $26 (the 25:1 on the bonus plus the original $1`bet) and all was good for that hand. Where it got tricky was whether or not the $1 bet for the dealer also got the envy bonus. I believe the pit boss decided that the dealer did also get the envy bonus, but I went ahead and tipped my envy bonus anyway and would have done so no matter what the pit boss decided.
According to Shagnasty’s link, sometimes tips are pooled, sometimes they aren’t.
But in either case, couldn’t the casino say that salaries are set with tips taken into account? Indeed, isn’t this pretty much standard practice in jobs that get tips?
I think that most of it comes down to personal preference. I play with friends who never tip, some who only tip when the dealer leaves (or when if they leave during a shift), and some who tip randomly.
Personally, I never straight tip. I always place a bet for the dealer providing a chance to double it. I used to ask which they preferred and every one of them preferred the bet, that way they win when you win. I generally play $10 at a time (maybe $20 if I’m up a bit and feeling good). If I get a blackjack with $10 out (resulting in $25 on the table) I will bet $20 on my next hand with $5 out for the dealer. Considering that this may happen anywhere from 0-5 times an hour (as well as the distinct possibility that I will lose the next hand!!), my tip rate probably averages about $10 an hour and up.