Las Vegas Tipping Guide

Quick Tipping Guide Cocktail Waitresses $1/every drink or two Dealers $5/hr. Slot Attendants (hand pays) 0.5% to 1% Taxi Drivers 15% Valets $2 on pickup Bellhops $1/bag; $2 min. Maids $1-2/day Bellhops & Airport Sky Caps $1/bag Waitpersons 15% of pre-tax amount Front Desk $20 to get a room upgrade

Vegas is a service economy and many workers literally earn their living from tips. Every dealer, from the low roller joints to the Bellagio, makes minimum wage (or barely more) from the casino itself. Dealers, cocktail waitresses, cabbies, and bellhops depend on your support for their livelihood. You should think of tipping as part of the cost of your entertainment while you're in Vegas. And proper tipping isn't expensive, either. Here's a tipping guide that tells you not only how much to tip, but how. When you add it up you'll see that the money you spend on even proper tips will likely be a small, small fraction of all the money you'll spend on your whole trip.

The casino provides free drinks (alcoholic and otherwise) while you're playing any game. A waitress comes around every once in a while to take your order. Just like the dealers, cocktail waitresses are paid minimum wage by the casinos and make their livelihood from tips. The standard tip is $1 per drink, but even $1 every other drink still means nearly $40,000/yr. in earnings for a waitress, even after their 20% tip-out to the bartender, so that's what I tip.

Place the tip on the serving tray. You can tip with casino chips if you like, even chips from another casino.

Etiquette: Waitresses record who ordered what based on where they're sitting in the casino, so if you move don't expect the waitress to remember you -- when she gets to you tell her that you moved and what you ordered. Waitresses work different sections of the casino so if you move out of your waitress' section don't expect (or ask) her to come find you to deliver your drink. Cocktail waitresses can't bring you food of any kind, not even peanuts, so don't even ask. The casino is well stocked, so there's no need to ask whether they have your particular drink -- just order what you want since they probably have it, and if they don't the waitress will tell you.

Just because a cocktail waitress is dressed in a sexy outfit doesn't mean it's okay for you to touch her in any way, or to say anything suggestive. Don't take the drink off the tray yourself, wait for the waitress to hand it to you. If you take the drink yourself then you can upset the balance of the tray and everything can get spilled. Don't ask a cocktail waitress which slot machines are the loosest -- all slots in a casino generally pay out about the same amount, and the odds are against you in every single one of them. If a waitress actually answers you by telling you which machine she thinks is good then she's either brand-new or she's playing your naivette. (More on slot machines.)

For more we recommend the website of an actual Vegas cocktail waitress, CocktailDoll.com.

Dealers make minimum wage

All dealers make minimum wage, or barely more, for their salary, even at the best casinos in town. Don't think that their tips are gravy on top of their salary -- for dealers the tips pretty much are their salary. And they pay taxes on those tips, just like the cocktail waitresses.

Obviously dealers at the nicer casinos make more tips than those at the low-end joints. It's a fairly broad range: Dealers generally make between $11k to $50k a year depending mostly on which casino they work at. On the extremes they can make as little as $5250 a year at the El Cortez (based on the $21/day figure reported in the Dealer's News in 2002), to $80k a year at Caeser's Palace.

How much to tip

There is no standard for how much to tip dealers, everyone suggests something different. So I did some math and figured that about $5/hr. is appropriate.

If three people are each tipping $5/hr. then the dealer is making $15/hr. in tips plus their minimum wage salary, which is a respectable living.

I'm a bit of a communist when I tip. If I see that a dealer is making $30/hr. from other people overtipping, I might not tip at all, even if it's at the Bellagio and I'm betting black. But at a low-end casino like the El Cortez where dealers make as little as $21 a day, I might tip twice what I normally do even if I'm betting red. A typical dealer at the El Cortez needs my $10/hr. more than a typical dealer at the Bellagio needs my $5/hr. Again, though, I base this on the amount that people are actually tipping. If none of the other players at my table at Bellagio are tipping then I'm certainly going to tip, and tip more than usual.

Of course, you don't have to make it this complicated. Just make sure you're tipping at least $5/hr.

Tip based on service

Just because dealers make minimum wage doesn't mean you have to tip if they give bad service. You might decline to tip a dealer who is rude, unfriendly, doesn't answer your questions, criticizes your play (in an unhelpful way), or doesn't smile.

On the other hand, you should always tip as long as the dealer isn't doing something wrong. Dealers deserve tips even if they don't do anything spectacular or entertaining. If they simply run the game competently and are moderately friendly then they deserve your tips.

Of course, if a dealer is exceptional, or puts on an entertaining show, then it's certainly appropriate to tip more.

Whether to tip when you lose

Many gamblers wonder whether it's okay to not tip when they lose? There are two fair ways to deal with this:

• If you don't tip when you lose, then you should tip more when you win. That way it balances out. If you're going to stiff the dealer when you're losing, as though it's the dealer's fault, then you should tip more when you're winning. After all, if was the dealer's fault that you lost, then they dealer should get credit when you win.
• Or, you can just tip the same amount whether you win or lose.

When to tip

You can give your whole tip to the dealer at the end of your playing session, but it's more common to tip a little bit throughout the session.

How to tip

Tip the dealer with chips, not cash.

You can either give the tip directly to the dealer ("straight up") or make a bet for them. Each dealer has their own preference so I always ask the dealer which they prefer. Dealers generally appreciate that I involve them in the process by asking them to tell me how they'd prefer to be tipped.

To make a bet for the dealer, place the dealer's bet on the outer edge of the betting circle, due north of your own bet. For example, you'd put a $5 chip for you inside the circle and a $1 chip for the dealer at the top of the circle. If you lose the hand then the dealer loses the tip. If you win the bet then the dealer pays both hands, so now you have two red chips and two silver chips. You then slide the two silver chips towards the dealer. In most casinos they're not allowed to take the chips unless you push the chips towards them.

There are two other interesting variations that allow you to get more tipping power out of the same dollar. One way is when you win, give the dealer only one of the silver chips, and keep the other silver chip on the table, so you're repeating the bet for the dealer. If you happen to win five hands in a row then the dealer winds up with $5 instead of $2 -- but it cost you only $1. On the other hand if you lose your second hand then the dealer winds up with only $1 instead of $2. Again, I've found dealers have definite preferences one way or the other so be sure to ask what they prefer. (Slide one chip towards them then put your finger on the other chip and say, "Shall I play this again or just give it to you?") Unfortunately some casinos have ridiculous rules and don't allow the dealers to tell you their preference! If they do then what usually works for me is to ask, "Okay, what do you think most dealers would prefer?" (Hint, hint.) Whatever their answer is what they prefer themselves.

Another variation is to place your bet for the dealer on top of your bet, and then if you win you have the option of betting the whole thing again for them, if that's what the dealer wants. For example, you could bet a green chip for you and put a $1 chip on top for the dealer. If you win then ask the dealer whether they want to let it ride (bet it again) or take it? Again, I've found dealers have strong preferences on this one, one way or the other. Most dealers seem to enjoy letting it ride a couple of times, but one dealer told me she didn't like that at all and preferred to take the winnings every time. The other extreme was a dealer who told me to let it ride every time. I eventually quit asking and said, "Okay, I'm just going to keep doing the bet, and you just tell me when you want it." He said, "Sure, stack it up!" When it got up to around $32 he said, "Okay, I'll take it now."

Pooling

Almost every casino requires dealers to pool their tips. As such, it's impossible for you to really reward a good dealer or punish a bad dealer. If you don't tip a bad dealer, then all of the dealers make less money. While this isn't fair to the other dealers, we suggest you still decline to tip bad dealers. That's because if we can't apply an incentive for dealers to give better service, then at least the other dealers can, through peer pressure. Also, if you tip a dealer no matter how bad the service is, that dealer will see little reason to give good service, if the tips roll in either way.

Casinos require dealers to pool tips for three reasons:

1. It makes the bookkeeping easy. Casinos just collect all the tip money themselves, count it, take the taxes out of it for the IRS, and then distribute the money to the dealers. Otherwise they might have to collect a separate tip report from each individual dealer.
2. It equalizes the rewards. Dealers on the higher limit tables get more tips than those at the lower limit tables, so tip pooling ensures that all the dealers get the same amount of money. Of course, an obvious counter argument is that dealers on the higher limit tables have earned those positions by virtue of seniority or excellent service, and thus have earned the higher tips they make.
3. It reduces the possibility of collusion with the players. If a dealer gets to keep their own tips then they're likely to cheat for a player who's tipping really well. This is unlikely in modern times with video surveillance and stiff legal penalties, but it's still a risk, and casinos don't like extra risk.

Of course, players and even many dealers would prefer that dealers keep their own tips -- players because they want the ability to reward dealers directly who give good service and dealers (at least the good dealers) because they reap the rewards of the good service they give. Wishing aside, this situation isn't likely to change any time soon.

Valets make $5-9/hr. in wages plus $11-20/hr. in tips, for a total of $16-$29/hr. A standard tip is $2 when you pick up your car. (Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nov. 2000)

At the Wynn, valets make $9/hr. in wages and about $11/hr. in tips, for a total of $20/hr. (Las Vegas Sun, Aug. 2006)

You can often get a room upgrade by tipping $20 to the front desk. Put the $20 between your ID and your credit card, then casually ask if there are any complimentary upgrades available. Most front desk staff reportedly will give the $20 back if they can't upgrade you. We'll be testing this trick more in the future. Check out FrontDeskTip.com for more.

According to the Washington Post food critic, it's okay to tip restaurant waitstaff on the pre-tax amount of the bill, rather than on the total.

And here's a handy way to calculate a standard tip: Sales tax in Las Vegas is 7.75%, so if you double the tax you'll be tipping 15.5% If you want to leave 20% -- well, if you can't do that easily already, then my explanation probably wouldn't make any sense. :)