So if I have a good run at the blackjack table, it’s customary to tip the dealer, no? So I slide him a couple of $25 chips. But since the dealer’s uniform doesn’t have pockets, what’s he supposed to do with them? Does he give them to the Pit Boss, who keep a tip account for the dealers on his shift? 
There’s usually a little tip bag / slot for the dealers. And AFAIK, at most casinos they group and split the tips.
The casinos I’ve played in have the dealers put the tips into a bin, and all the tips from the shift are divided among the dealers on the shift.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. We tip blackjack dealers now? When will it end? I might be going to a casino this weekend. Am I considered a jerk if I don’t tip each and every person that works ther who so much as looks at me?
If you don’t tip the dealer, you will be dealt lots of threes.
Nah, if you don’t tip the dealer, you will be dealt lots of sixteens (preferably a pair of 8s to make life even worse) and lots of hard seventeens.
The general rules for tipping in a casino:
- Always tip a buck when you get a drink.
- Always tip your dealer, especially if you are doing well. Generally a unit (the table minimium) will be fine. In poker, the toke (a slang term for the dealer’s tip) is a chip or two of the lowest value being played, exact value depending on limits and possibly pot size.
- At some table games (blackjack and the fortune bonus in pai-gow work particularly well at this, though there are other games you can do this at) you can place a bet for the dealer. Often known as “bribing” the dealer, the house gets the bet if you lose, the dealer gets the bet and the payoff if you win. This will generally be a dollar, at least at the lower limit tables. Best done when you are on a streak either way. If something really good happens, go ahead and tip as in point 2.
As to bouv’s question, of course you don’t have to tip. I never tip the people in the cage, have never found a good way to tip at craps, and don’t always pay for my Diet Coke (only when I don’t have any singles and don’t have the opportunity to get the dealer to break a red, but I’ll try to make up for it later.) Some people tip a lot, some not at all. I try to strive for a happy medium, depending on how I’m doing and the exact game I’m playing. I’d say the only expected tips are for the drink-runners (what’s a better term?) and the toke for the dealer if you play poker and win the pot.
A good way to tip at craps if you are at a hot table is to finish your “hard-way” bets with a bet for the dealers. For example, if I’m shooting and hitting my points and making everybody a bunch of money, I’ll toss a $5 chip to the centerman with instructions to put $1 on all the hard ways, and a dollar for the dealers. He’ll place it in a position on the table that shows this, and thanks me. If I win, they win.
By a dollar for the dealers, you mean that the dealers get at least a dollar even if you don’t hit the hardways or seven out?
Make it as a bet. If I hit, they hit.
Nah, they only get it if you hit the hardway that you’ve bet for them. But it’s the most common and easiest way to tip at craps. In my experience it seems the dealers appreciate the effort if nothing else.
It’s also my understanding that if you’re absolutely getting beaten down in a session, the dealers don’t expect a tip. If I have a moderately successful run, I make sure I tip and tip often. The more you tip the more they’ll watch out for you (in a good way).
I have almost no casino experience, but I remember reading in an online guide that most dealers would prefer it if you just tossed them a chip and said “For the dealer.” After all, hardways are all sucker bets, aren’t they? (At least compared to pass or don’t pass.)
At most games, I’d say yes. Craps is different though in that you have 4 (usually) guys running the table. It’s kind of easier to just thow it out for the hardways (which are indeed sucker bets, but nonetheless fun when you’re rolling). In blackjack or roulette or mini-bac, you just toss the chip to them and say something like “that’s for you.”
I play almost exclusively blackjack. Dealers don’t expect to be tipped if you’re loosing every hand, or every other hand. However, if you do manage to get yourself on somewhat of a good streak, they do appreciate it.
Generally, betting for the dealer in an attempt to tip them is accepted as being tipped, even if not successful. My personal rule is on the third hand in a row being won, I’ll bet for the dealer. On rare occasions when I win four hands in a row, loose one, and then win four again, loose one, so on… I have managed to win about $70 for the dealer.
If tips are split equally in casinos anyway, as others have said, I don’t see how it’s any harder to do the same thing at the craps table. Granted, it might be less fun, but I imagine the workers would appreciate it more. Like I said, though, I’ve never spent more than a few minutes in a casino, so I don’t know from experience.
Not that I’m some expert blackjack player or nothin’ but wouldn’t you kind of want lots of pairs of 8s so as to split them?
I was curious about this as well… That’s what I always do, and every website I’ve seen always says you should split a pair of 8’s. They never indicate that it’s an undesirable hand.
If you are getting winning hands for a short time, it was not the dealer’s doing.
Does the dealer and the others who share your tip money reverse the situation when you are on a losing streak?
So pray tell…other than to allow the dealers to share in your good fortune when you are winning, what are the reasons the tipper’s tip?
Karma, dude. Karma. 
But (just to clarify) it’s specifically illegal for a dealer to attempt to do anything that would influence the cards you receive - isn’t it?
Yes, but they can watch your bets to make sure you have optimal payouts, frown if you are about to take a stupid hit, stuff like that. A friendly dealer makes the game more fun. There is no dynamic quite like a hot craps table with happy, well-tipped dealers.