Tipping is essential to being a gracious player, but keeping your money out of the casino's hands is a constant battle. So a balancing act between being polite and being sensible is necessary. A tip in a casino is also called a "toke". I hope this guide to tipping and toking will help you the next time you're playing in a casino.
Low level service providers (waiters and waitresses, dealers and keno runners) in casinos rely on tips to make a living. It's rude not to tip. I don't think anyone, especially not gamblers, should be boors. And people who don't tip are boorish.
I always tip dealers who are friendly and helpful. If you get a surly dealer, it's not only appropriate to not tip that person, it's appropriate to advice casino management of their behavior. I've experienced this playing poker at the Excalibur in Las Vegas. One particular dealer there was just a jerk, to the point of being rude and insulting. I stopped tipping him.
The easiest way to tip a dealer is to push a chip forward toward the dealer and tell her that "This is for you." If you're playing blackjack, you can also place a bet for the dealer on your next hand. This is done by placing an extra bet on the table in front of your bet, nearer to the dealer. If you win, then the dealer does too.
How much to tip is the eternal dilemma, and determining how these tips affect your hourly earn or loss rate is crucial to being a smart gambler. When you understand your expectation and the number of bets you're placing per hour, you can determine what it's costing you to play. But you need to add in the amounts you'll be tipping and toking to get the real number. The cardrooms are full of poker players who might be profitable if it weren't for the rake, the dealer tokes, and the cocktail waitresses' tips.
It's appropriate to tip the change person if you hit a jackpot on a slot machine. Ten dollars should be fine for a decent sized jackpot, and if you hit a huge progressive jackpot, you might even tip $100. But keep in mind the tax man is going to be getting his hand into your winnings too.
The appropriate time to tip a poker dealer is when you win a pot. At the stakes I play for, a dollar is usually an appropriate tip, although if you win a really big pot, you might tip an extra buck or two.
You should tip keno runners a dollar for each run, and more if you win. And the drinks might be free, but it's appropriate to tip the cocktail waitresses a dollar or two when they bring your drinks. Tipping them with casino chips is certainly appropriate too.
I hope this guide to tipping in the casinos helps you out next time you're in a casino and aren't sure whether or not to tip or how much to tip.
