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Ask the Slot Expert: Two ways that handpays for slot jackpots may be endangered

26 April 2023

Question: As expressed before, your posts are very high on my list of 'must reads' when I receive them in my emails. I like to comment whenever I feel that I may offer some additional perspective to your commentary, so here goes:

I AM a Tipper. I am puzzled when I notice some people don't tip or leave inadequate gratuities. Having finishing my collegiate life stage (many decades ago) -- worked as a server, bartender, and other service-related jobs -- I felt I did a very good job, but unfortunately, I was in an establishment known for low tipping (Singles Bar/Restaurant). This only reinforced my personal goal to this day; adequately, and often excessively Tipping....because I've been there!

My general gratuity scale (+ some commentary):

  • Restaurants and Bars - 15-18% min, to 25%+ (if something special was added by server/restaurant)
  • Bars service - $1-2 per drink order each time, 15% on a tab; alcoholic or not, same gratuity
  • Buffet restaurants - $3-5 per person, depending on level of service: beverage service, table clearing, etc.
  • Housekeeping - $5-20 min, depending on length of stay and if daily service needed or only for 1-2 day stay
  • Valet - $2-5 per trip (if complimentary with visit, unfortunately less and less available in LV)
  • Dealers - $1-2 per winning hand (more on monster pots); in BJ (21), add $1-5 on top of my wager if winning
  • Chip Runner - $1-2 per request
  • Slot Attendant - $20 per (attendant who paid me & guard watching) Note: have only had 1 Handpay of $1600! If I have more opportunities I will tip depending on amount; $20-25 per person. Ditto for a guard.

Therein lies your unique spin on the 'Option' of adding Jackpots to your set-up accounts. No more handpays, no more angst of how much do I tip, etc. You are truly a "Thought Leader", gave Me that 'Ah Hah!' moment! (pause, while I soak that concept in)

Okay, I'm still not convinced I trust all those fancy ways for the Casino to 'link' to my bank accounts (unless I open a separate account strictly for 'Gaming funds'), I do like a choice on alternatives.

Final note: I go to Las Vegas for fun, my version of DisneyLand. If I am treated with Hospitality, Dignity and Respect, I will return the favor in kind, as all good people should.

Next visit; 1st week in May, All the Best!

Answer: Thanks again for the kind words.

You are indeed a Tipper, with a capital T.

To recap last week's column, the option you are referring to is Instant Jackpot. Casinos have often made conveniences available to high rollers to keep them playing instead of waiting for tax forms. I remember reading about one high-rolling lady at Caesars Palace for whom they had an attendant dealing with the IRS paperwork immediately as the lady played. At the Red Rock high-limit area, I remember seeing a man enter something (his slot club PIN) on the machine every time I heard it played the jackpot music.

When I hit two barely hand-payable handpays ($1200 each) in the same high-limit area, they asked me if I wanted to be set up with being able to enter my PIN instead of waiting for the handpay.

I declined. I said that it was extraordinary hitting two handpays in such a short amount of time at the level at which I was playing (dollars). I was not likely to hit another handpay -- and I didn't.

Boyd has made a similar convenience available to anyone who signs up for it. They call it Instant Jackpot. No more handpays. Enter your PIN and the jackpot goes to your credit meter and you get a W-2G at the end of the year. I wouldn't be surprised if other casinoss offer a similar system to all of the players at their casinos too.

Instant Jackpot is one way to avoid a handpay. Let's look at another change that will put handpays on the endangered species list -- not completely gone, but not widespread.

Handpays used to be a convenience for both the casino and the player. They were convenient for the casino because a jackpot may have emptied the hopper -- if the hopper even contained enough coins/tokens to cover the jackpot. They were convenient for the player because players may have avoided waiting for a hopper fill to pay the jackpot out of the hopper and players always avoided having to deal with buckets of coins.

The Flamingo Hilton used to have some progressive machines in an area in the front. (Used to -- like 20 years ago.) I remember standing (Standing? No chairs, as I recall.) playing one of the quarter machines. The top jackpot started at $250, paid by hand. Not enough for a tax form, but enough to make it well worth waiting for the handpay and giving the attendant a tip.

Today we don't use coins and machines don't have hoppers. We use tickets instead. There's only one reason I can think of for a handpay today: issuing a W-2G. If you can think of another, please let me know.

Raising the W-2G trigger to $5,000 has been kicking around D.C. for a few years. Rep. Dina Titus, from Nevada, and others recently introduced a bill to raise the amount and index it for inflation.

Dollar royals can just be added to the credit meter. Most of us will never have to wait for a W-2G again!

In How increased tax form trigger would affect big slot winners, John Grochowski guesses that dollar royals and other large jackpots would still be paid by hand.

One reason he gave is anti-money laundering measures (FinCEN). Cash transactions of $10,000 or more get reported. I don't see how a $4000 royal that is well below the reporting threshold is affected by FinCEN requirements.

I've won $10,000 in handpays twice. One was a dealt royal on quarter 10-Play. The other was a royal and deuces playing $2 NSU. On both occasions, attendants just gave me my money. I don't see the difference between getting paid in cash at the machine and redeeming a ticket at the cage.

I deposited my dealt royal money the next day. I was ready to explain why I had so much cash. The teller just counted the cash and gave me a receipt. Any FinCEN reports that need to be filed are handled by the institution. The customer isn't involved.

Another reason he gave for continuing to handpay large jackpots is credit meter maximums. The maximum amount you can have on your credit meter varies by jurisdiction. In some casinos, if your payout would push your credit meter over the max -- say, $3000 -- the machine will print a ticket instead of adding it to your credit meter.

I don't think I've had a machine print a ticket instead of adding to my meter in Las Vegas and I've hit a hat trick of deuces more than once and had more than $3000 on my meter. Tickets over $3000, however, do require special handling. Regulations in Nevada prohibit inserting enough cash or tickets into a machine to push the meter over $3000. And you can't redeem tickets over $3000 at a kiosk. You must go to the cage (and I've always had to show my players card too).

John writes that just because casinos can add jackpots under $5000 the credit meter, that doesn't necessarily mean that they will. Some may still pay certain jackpots by hand.

The purposes of raising the W-2G trigger are to lessen the burden on casinos to pay the jackpots and to have a player sitting at a machine playing and not waiting. I would guess that most casinos (and all in Las Vegas) would pay the max in credits.

Getting back to tipping, an unintended consequence of fewer handpays, whether through Instant Jackpot or raising the W-2G threshold, is fewer tips to slot attendants.

Fewer handpays may also lead to fewer slot floor people. I hope, however, that casinos would leave staffing pretty much the same way so the attendants can concentrate on helping people with problems promptly instead of running around getting cash and tax forms.

Next week I want to discuss more about cashless gaming, which you alluded to in the paragraph before your Final Note.

Oh, and best of luck on your next visit.


If you would like to see more non-smoking areas on slot floors in Las Vegas, please sign my petition on change.org.

I'm sure it's just a coincidence, but I'll take credit for it anyway. A week after I created my petition, Suncoast put up new signs reminding visitors that there is no smoking in the lounge area in front of the hotel desk and in the food-service areas.


Click here for the latest Covid data.

John Robison

John Robison is an expert on slot machines and how to play them. John is a slot and video poker columnist and has written for many of gaming’s leading publications. He holds a master's degree in computer science from the prestigious Stevens Institute of Technology.

You may hear John give his slot and video poker tips live on The Good Times Show, hosted by Rudi Schiffer and Mike Schiffer, which is broadcast from Memphis on KXIQ 1180AM Friday afternoon from from 2PM to 5PM Central Time. John is on the show from 4:30 to 5. You can listen to archives of the show on the web anytime.

Books by John Robison:

The Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots
John Robison
John Robison is an expert on slot machines and how to play them. John is a slot and video poker columnist and has written for many of gaming’s leading publications. He holds a master's degree in computer science from the prestigious Stevens Institute of Technology.

You may hear John give his slot and video poker tips live on The Good Times Show, hosted by Rudi Schiffer and Mike Schiffer, which is broadcast from Memphis on KXIQ 1180AM Friday afternoon from from 2PM to 5PM Central Time. John is on the show from 4:30 to 5. You can listen to archives of the show on the web anytime.

Books by John Robison:

The Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots