Tipping Handpays
Tipping in casinos has become an accepted and even sometimes expected practice. When players have nice wins they feel generous and give the dealer a little something in exchange for helping them out. Although this is logically preposterous because the dealer has nothing to do with the outcome of the game, players tip to be nice or out of superstition.
At table games like blackjack or poker this is easy, as you can just slide a few chips towards the dealer and they can accept the tip. Also, tip sizing is pretty simple at table games - when you have a nice sized win, you throw a few dollars the dealer's way. However, when you are playing video poker tipping becomes much more complicated.
Answer 1 of 31: Can somebody please tell me what this tipping is for, I mean so let's say if I do win 10k at a slot machine when it comes to cash in, there is a box in the taxes forms for tipping right or wrong? And the amount of tipping is a percentage?
When to Tip in Video Poker
- Having equal or a bonus of up to $ 1,000, this casino is over its competitors. Casino Superlines follows that generous bonus using another deposit bonus of 100% up to 1,000 or a 200 percent third along with equal deposit bonus.
- Reader Greg had a pretty straightforward question around machine payouts, particularly around the idea of jackpot handpays: Hello, I’ve been playing the Buffalo Gold game for years, love it 4 sure, but in years of playing it the most I’ve ever won was 650.00 and at the casino I go to a lot I really never see anybody winning much on that game.
The majority of the time you won't have to tip anyone because it's just you and the machine, but a few situations arise when you might feel compelled to tip an employee.
Drink Girls
The first (and simplest) tipping situation is when drink girls bring you complimentary drinks. Most players give the girls a dollar to thank them for the drink.
Hand Pays
The other (and much more complicated) time you might tip is when you hit a large jackpot that requires a hand pay. 'Hand pay' simply means that an employee or two come over and pay you in cash or check as opposed to receiving a ticket. Most casinos require hand pays for all royal flushes, and sometimes even straight flushes or quads.
Some people feel that you shouldn't tip at all because the attendant is simply doing his/her job. They are already paid a fair wage for their time, and tips aren't 'built in' to their salary like waiters and waitresses.
However, other players feel that tipping is just the right thing to do after you are fortunate enough to hit a big hand. In that case, you'll need to know how much to tip. This is where things get really complicated.
How Much to Tip for Hand Pays
Hand pays can range from a few hundred dollars to hundreds of thousands. One tipping rate that comes up again and again is $20/$1,000 of winnings. So, if you hit a $4,000 royal flush you'd tip the attendant $80. That seems pretty reasonable to me.
However, the $20/$1,000 rule doesn't make as much sense if you just hit a $200 jackpot, or if you just hit a $400,000 jackpot. In the first case you probably shouldn't even tip if they require a hand pay because your winnings are so small. In the latter case, there's no way you want to tip $8,000 for a simple hand pay. In that case, I'd probably tip $500 or maybe $1,000 and even that seems high to me.
A Strange Tipping Situation
One situation I've come across while researching tipping really had me baffled. At one casino, every time there was a hand pay all of the attendants would round each other up and supervise the hand pay in hopes that all of them would receive tips.
In my opinion this would just make players more likely to not tip at all, because it would be strange divvying up the money between six or seven people. I personally wouldn't tip a cent because I'd realize they were trying to take advantage of my good fortune.
How to Avoid Tips Completely?
If tips seem like something you'd prefer to avoid, then just sign up at an online video poker casino. There are no hand pays and no drink girls, so you will never have to tip a single cent. This will save you significant money in the long run over a live machine.
Here it's usually just two slot attendants. One to pay you and the other to verify.
I get both sides of the slot tipping issue, because I worked in slots for a short period of time making $8 an hour (early 90's), tips helped and I was happy with anything.
I really didn't make a lot from tips, probably $120 a week. There were some tip hustler employees who made at least triple that much. The casino I worked at didn't tolerate tip hustling and management couldn't take tips themselves, they couldn't refuse them either. Management had to give it to the floor and change person who paid the jackpot.
Most of the employees had subtle, and not so subtle ways to extract tip's. They knew when and who to target. Things that would make most of us cringe.
If someone asked me the best machine to play I told them the truth, it's all luck and I don't know. If I knew I would have my friends come play them and split the money. Unfortunately most people don't want to hear that. Some people think employees know what machines are hot.
I don't really like when employees start patting my machine saying,'come on, come on, hit something good, get a royal.' Especially when it's overdramatized and totally fake. I have heard just about everything. People have the balls to say 'good thing I was standing here, because I'm lucky'
I always ask the suit if they can take tips, if they say yes I'll add 25% to 50% more to what I was originally going to tip. I hand it to the suit and tell them to split it.
Honestly I don't think management deserves a tip, however it's just something I feel benefits AP.
Nowadays there's not to many change people around and I'm not sure what a slot floor person makes per hour.
Does anyone know what they make?
I don't have a set certain percentage I tip, it all depends on the situation and what I'm playing. I think $10 per thousand is adequate. Generally I'm capping it at $100, if I hit for 10k - 40k they get $100. There's situations where I would give more.
If the play is really juicy i'm going to over tip.
If someone like a family member hits a 4k RF while on vacation I'll suggest $20 to $40.
If you're a recreational gambler do whatever you like, tip if you want, stiff if you like. Even If it's $5 they should be happy they got anything.
I get both sides of the slot tipping issue, because I worked in slots for a short period of time making $8 an hour (early 90's), tips helped and I was happy with anything.
I really didn't make a lot from tips, probably $120 a week. There were some tip hustler employees who made at least triple that much. The casino I worked at didn't tolerate tip hustling and management couldn't take tips themselves, they couldn't refuse them either. Management had to give it to the floor and change person who paid the jackpot.
Most of the employees had subtle, and not so subtle ways to extract tip's. They knew when and who to target. Things that would make most of us cringe.
If someone asked me the best machine to play I told them the truth, it's all luck and I don't know. If I knew I would have my friends come play them and split the money. Unfortunately most people don't want to hear that. Some people think employees know what machines are hot.
I don't really like when employees start patting my machine saying,'come on, come on, hit something good, get a royal.' Especially when it's overdramatized and totally fake. I have heard just about everything. People have the balls to say 'good thing I was standing here, because I'm lucky'
I always ask the suit if they can take tips, if they say yes I'll add 25% to 50% more to what I was originally going to tip. I hand it to the suit and tell them to split it.
Honestly I don't think management deserves a tip, however it's just something I feel benefits AP.
Nowadays there's not to many change people around and I'm not sure what a slot floor person makes per hour.
Does anyone know what they make?
I don't have a set certain percentage I tip, it all depends on the situation and what I'm playing. I think $10 per thousand is adequate. Generally I'm capping it at $100, if I hit for 10k - 40k they get $100. There's situations where I would give more.
If the play is really juicy i'm going to over tip.
If someone like a family member hits a 4k RF while on vacation I'll suggest $20 to $40.
My last 2k hand pay I tipped $40. I thought it was adequate. My local hand pays on 1k royals so that always leaves me in a sticky situation. The last one I tipped $20 but it was in 2 $10s so it felt like more.
I was listening to a podcast recently, it may have been dancer but I can't remember. I can't remember exactly what he said but it was something like the tip should be under .5% or you are going to kill your ev. I would rather not tip at all than tip $10 on 4k.
In most jurisdictions it is a requirement to have three people involved in a jackpot. There are some exceptions for restricted locations and very small ones that may not have enough employees working,
The two government casinos here both have just a slot attendant do a hand pay and these casinos are definitely not small. The Indian casino just outside the city however has a manager present for all hand pays.
I was listening to a podcast recently, it may have been dancer but I can't remember. I can't remember exactly what he said but it was something like the tip should be under .5% or you are going to kill your ev. I would rather not tip at all than tip $10 on 4k.
That couldn't be more wrong, at least for anyone who's playing something with a decent edge. If he's talking about himself, grinding out stupid sh** like $1 10-play 9/6 DDB UX with a 0.15% advantage on 2x days (or whatever the hell it is)....then yeah, it's gonna hurt you.....but you should t even be playing stupid awful games like that to begin with.
Imagine, if you tipped 10% (yes, ten percent) on all handpays on $1 9/6 JOB. Only handpay is a RF. Royal is worth 2% (TWO PERCENT) of your return. Tipping away 10% of 2% is a grand-smacking total of 0.2%!!!! If 0.2% means THAT MUCH to your game, well, you're not playing a good game.
Granted, I'm not saying you should tip 10% as I think that's too much IMO, but it goes to show how little impact a 10% JP tip actually 'hurts' you.
Saying your tip should be less than 0.5% or else you're gonna kill your EV is beyond laughable.
Of course, not everyone plays $1 9/6 JOB. But if you're worried about 'killing your EV', you should try running the VP calculator with adjusted payouts for tips for the game you decide to play. ie: if you tip $10 on a $1,250 HP on $5 9/6 DDB, then change the 5 thru K's 4oak from paying 50 to 49.6....and adjust the other payouts according to how much you'd tip. Then see for yourself how much (or, in the most likely scenario, how little) tripping hurts you.
I don't think I'd pay anything if it was an Indian casino though because I don't think that Indian tribes deserve the entitlement to have gambling in the first place.
You aren't tipping the casino, you are tipping the person that works there. If you have a problem with the casino, don't frequent it.
I don't think I'd pay anything if it was an Indian casino though because I don't think that Indian tribes deserve the entitlement to have gambling in the first place.
How dare those godless heathens try to climb out of poverty after we stole the country fair and square.My last 2k hand pay I tipped $40. I thought it was adequate. My local hand pays on 1k royals so that always leaves me in a sticky situation. The last one I tipped $20 but it was in 2 $10s so it felt like more.
I was listening to a podcast recently, it may have been dancer but I can't remember. I can't remember exactly what he said but it was something like the tip should be under .5% or you are going to kill your ev. I would rather not tip at all than tip $10 on 4k.
Again, it really depends on what your playing, if you are only getting handpays on Royals it isn't going to cut into your EV much. If you are playing with a .2 edge you probably have to be frugal.
Imagine playing .50 full time and tipping $40 a pop, that's over 2k per year, so imagine what your kids could do with that extra money when they got 16 had you put $30 of it in the bank.
I disagree with zero over $10. Sure it's kinda cheap, but They get stiffed regularly so $10 they should be ok with that.
How dare those godless heathens try to climb out of poverty after we stole the country fair and square.
Perhaps they should have learned to bargain a just little better with Manhattan ☺.