Ask the Slot Expert: How much should I tip for a slot jackpot?

Question: So, I'm sitting there at a slot (Crazy Rich Asians) in an off-strip casino. It didn't take long to be awarded the grand ($12,000!).

An attendant comes up to congratulate me, gets my information and leaves. As I'm waiting, another lady (no uniform, nicely dressed...maybe a host?) comes up to me and takes me to a more private area to wait for my money. A few minutes later two others show up and count out my winnings.

I'm not used to a hand pay. I'm wondering if I have to tip all three people? How much do I tip? I spend way too much money at this particular casino as it is.

I peel off $40 for each person. To my shock, the host takes the money and sort of flicks it on the counter we were standing at. The other attendants noticed too and acted a bit uncomfortable and they thanked me.

I still had a $100 ticket that was in the machine, so I cashed it and handed each another $20 as the host clearly indicated to me that $40 each was not enough.

They offered me an escort to my car and security was happy to do so. I tipped the desk security person and the young man who walked me to my car $20 each and they were very appreciative of the tip.

So all tips totaled--$220--and I still felt cheap because of that host's flick of the wrist.

All that being said, I consider myself pretty generous. I even tip restroom attendants when I'm winning. But for some reason I felt like a cheapskate.

Am I?

Am I obligated to tip everyone who shows up?

I am almost wishing that I don't get another hand pay!

Answer: First, congratulations that Crazy Rich Asians made you a little crazy rich yourself.

I saw the movie but never played the game. I get a little mad whenever I see the machine. Suncoast got rid of Game of Thrones:Kings Landing before I grew tired of playing it and replaced it with Crazy Rich Asians.

I don't blame Suncoast at all. I think the games in this particular pod of games are determined in conjunction with Aristocrat. The games are always Aristocrat titles and the machines are never moved to another spot on the slot floor. When they're gone, they're gonzo.

It's funny how different casinos treat handpays. When I hit my first royal flush, at The Desert Inn, I asked if I could get it in a check. I had never carried that much in cash before. They complied, but it was clear that paying by check was not the usual procedure.

I saw a split handpay at Silverton. The jackpot wasn't large, under $4000, and the lady was paid part by check and part in cash. The slot people acted like this wasn't an unusual occurrence there.

(Jean Scott told me that she and Brad played at Silverton, so I started playing there too. When I told Brad that I had started playing dollar video poker a Silverton, he told that I was a high-roller there.)

When I was dealt a royal flush on a quarter Ten Play at Suncoast, I was paid with a stack of hundreds in a $10,000 strap. And they took my picture holding a big cardboard check!

Same casino, different day. A couple hits for $20,000 on a video poker machine. They were paid with two $10,000 stacks. The floorpeople also gave them a manila envelope to carry the stacks in. (They were from out of town, as I recall, and the floorpeople also made dinner reservations for them. I don't recall if the casino comped the meal.)

I asked my friend who works on the slot floor about paying jackpots. He said his casino tries to pay everything in cash. For large jackpots, they'll take you to an office to be paid so you're not on display accepting stacks of cash on the casino floor. Of course, they'll also have a security guard walk you to your car if you want an escort out.

Based on how you were treated, it seems like $12,000 is a large handpay at that casino.

What was the question?

Oh, yes. Tipping.

I was just binging on some old episodes of Rick Steves' Europe. In one episode, he said that you don't need to tip the wait staff in some countries. The wait staff is paid a living wage there. Too bad we can't do that in this country. Are we really so poor in math that we think a tab for $20 and a $4 tip is less expensive than a $24 tab that doesn't require a tip?

I've never been triple-teamed on a handpay. (I've also never been offered the option of being paid in a private area.) Sometimes, the person who initially acknowledges my handpay is not part of the team that give me the money. To quote Marvin Gaye, "It takes two, baby." One to count the bills into your hand or just give you the stack and the other to witness the transaction.

More often than not, they start walking away while I'm putting the money in my wallet and I have to call them back to get my tip. I've never had anyone give me the impression that they were displeased with the amount I tipped. One time, quite the opposite.

Believe it or not, kids, there was a time when we had to use coins when we played slot machines. We put coins in and the machines paid us with coins. We'd take the coins in buckets to one of the many coin redemption kiosks on the floor. A machine there counted the coins and the attendant would give us bills.

At Treasure Island, when it was still owned by Mirage Resorts, I received a few singles along with the larger bills. I gave the singles to the attendant.

I've never seen someone so grateful for a tip. I guess she rarely got tipped for the service she provided in her booth.

How much did I tip for handpays? Without realizing it, I had pretty much settled on 1%. For a $4000 royal, $20 each. For $1200 to $2000, $10 total. Over $2000, $20 total. Over $6000, $60. Tips are split at many casinos, so it doesn't matter whether you tip each person or just give it all to one.

Notice that I said "did" at the beginning of the last paragraph. The casinos I play at have cut back on points, comps, and gifts and are generally just being less generous. I don't feel that I have to be as generous as I was in the past, so I'm cutting my rule-of-thumb percentage in half (maybe to match the fact that video poker points were cut in half).

I'm sorry if the slot floorpeople have to pay the price, but the casinos are reporting record profits. They can afford to pay the floorpeople more.

Have you ever seen the movie Tower Heist? One of the mantras at the Tower is "We don't accept tips at the Tower." Wouldn't that be nice if that was the slogan at a casino?

The $120 you tipped was right in line with my 1% guideline, but I don't think it really makes sense to have a flat percentage for handpays. It makes sense at a restaurant because the level of service you get is usually commensurate with how much you pay. But I don't think you're really getting twice as much service on an $8000 handpay versus a $4000 handpay. And you're definitely not getting 2.5 times as much service if they just hand you a strapped stack worth $10,000.

In an article I read recently, an Uber Eats driver complained about a $20 tip he got for delivering a bulging paper bag filled with $388 of sushi and miso soup. The driver was expecting $50 to $70.

I don't think it was reasonable for him to expect a percentage close to what you would tip a waiter. He didn't serve the food. He delivered a bag. If anything, the tip should be based on weight, not price. If the same bag was bulging with $100 worth of burgers and fries instead, a $20 tip would have been nice. Same amount of work.

(Before you write me, let me say that I give the tip that the Uber Eats website suggests, usually 18%. I only order when there is a promotion, so I'm just giving the driver what I saved on the bill.)

Handpays and tipping on handpays can be a thing of the past. If you're playing high-denomination machines, you can have the casino set you up so you just enter your slot club pin when you have a handpay. The jackpot is added to your credit meter and you'll get the tax form later.

Boyd has made a similar feature available to everyone, at least in Las Vegas. When I hit a handpy on a machine that supports Instant Jackpot, I just enter my pin, the jackpot is added to my credit meter, and I'm ready to continue playing in seconds. At the end of the year, I get one W-2G with all of my Instant Jackpot handpays. (I think they told me I would get one consolidated W-2G. I hit only one Instant Jackpot last year.)

One of Nevada's representatives, Jacky Rosen, has filed a bill that would raise the reporting threshold from $1200 to $5000. That threshold would eliminate the handpay for many (most?) players. Adding large jackpots to the credit meter creates other problems. I'll talk about them next week.

Tip whatever you like. Some players don't tip at all.

The only reason we have handpays today is because of the tax form. Before tickets, there was value in getting jackpots paid in cash by hand instead of coins by the machine. That was worth tipping for. Those jackpots can go on a ticket today.

Tip what you want and don't let anyone make you feel like a cheapskate.

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