The Question of Tipping

15 December 2022

By Royal Flushes

CINDY: A subject that doesn’t come up often in casual casino conversations is about tipping. I guess the questions would be:

1. Do you tip?
2. How much do you tip based on how much do you play for?
3. Why do you tip?

ABBY: We both tip.

CINDY: Of course. When I have dinner at a restaurant I tip the server, that’s a part of the person’s income.

ABBY: I’d say the range in a restaurant is about 15 to 30 percent.

CINDY: Yes, but you do remember Chuck El Cheapo, right?

ABBY: He’d go to the dollar breakfast specials and tip a dollar and he thought he was being generous. “I give 100 percent!” he’d tell us.

CINDY: Didn’t he go to buffets and take food out in his pockets?

ABBY: What a cheapo! And he was pretty well off too. Several houses and many horses.

CINDY: And thus, his name was truly earned.

ABBY: Let us assume the blackjack dealer is cordial and has a nice relationship with the players. How much do you tip them based on your level of play?

CINDY: I play between $25 and $50 a decision. Maybe five dollars every half hour or so.

ABBY: Do you change how much you tip based on how well you are doing?

CINDY: No. Five dollars every half hour. Okay, maybe ten sometimes.

ABBY: I tip about the same even though I play smaller stakes than you.

CINDY: What about at craps? You can make a hundred different bets for the dealers in that game. What do you do?

ABBY: I use the Scoblete school of tipping at craps. I put a bet on the six or eight for the dealers and I tell the dealers that “I control the bet.” If the house is allowing a two-dollar payoff on a one-dollar bet for the dealers I bet both the six and eight for one-dollar apiece and "I control the bet."

CINDY: I like that form of tipping because you have a tip out and it can hit several times but your expense is just that dollar. You can have a tip up there more often this way without spending too much money.

ABBY: We do play the other games as well and I tend to go with the five-dollar tip every so often.

CINDY: Do you think we are cheap?

ABBY: Nope. My experience is that most players don’t tip. The tippers are the minority. At least that’s what I think.

CINDY: Me too. We’re sisters so maybe we think alike.

ABBY: Not a crime.

CINDY: What if the dealer is not cordial and is kind of cold? What then?

ABBY: Actively cold, like snickering when you lose and that type of thing?

CINDY: Yes.

ABBY: I know dealers pool their tips in most casinos. I’d not tip the person who was in my estimation a bad dealer. Maybe I would say something to the next dealer when I put my tip out – this would have to be at blackjack or another card game, but not craps. Craps it’s a little hard to tell what the dealers are thinking. Therefore, in craps I would probably keep tipping.

CINDY: Do you find that most dealers are good? And worthy of tips?

ABBY: Yes.

CINDY: I agree.