There are a few things in life that are deeply personal and it can be argued that tipping is one of those things. That’s because the act of expressing gratitude through tipping largely relies on a person’s budget, beliefs, and life experience.
Yes, that’s pretty deep for an article on tipping…. But it’s true! With that being said, don’t worry. While there isn’t a set amount that every person should tip when they enter a casino, there are some guidelines that we listed below designed to give you some context and insight next time you find yourself in a potential casino gratuity situation.
Hosts
This one’s for the VIPs (or accompanying friends!) that interact with casino hosts during their time at the casino. The biggest piece of advice when it comes to hosts is to treat them well (with respect) and evaluate what your specific host has done for you. If you have been offered a meal here or there, a smaller tip or gift will be very well appreciated. Inversely, if you are collecting comped hotel rooms, tickets to shows, and Michelin Star restaurant reservations, you probably want to show your appreciation with a more grand gesture.
- Example: If my host has offered to buy me and my friends a round of drinks, I typically will tip $20. The big thing to note here is that sometimes casino hosts are not allowed to accept cash but they can usually accept gift cards. If you have a trip coming up that you planned with your host, you can either ask them if they are allowed to accept cash or surprise them with something else.
Tips for hosts allow for a little more creativity too, players sometimes like to bring in sweets or trinkets from their home states and countries. As a matter of fact, when I worked in Downtown Las Vegas guests would always bring in chocolate covered macadamia nuts from Hawaiian Host. I swear, these tasty treats became a sort of currency back of house. If you needed a favor, you’d trade a box of Hawaiian Hosts.
Read more specifically about showing your appreciation here.
Dealers
Tipping dealers is one of my favorite things. That may sound weird but, I absolutely love tipping in chips, particularly after a big win, and love when those chips are tapped against the table and announced to the floor. Because I like to belly up to the cheaper tables, typically $5-$15 per hand, I will tip frequently in $1 chips. This not only shows my appreciation for the dealer, because they do add up over time, but it helps keep the energy alive at the table.
Something that you can absolutely do is also ask the dealer if they want to accept the chip tip “straight up” or if they want to join in the action and bet it for the chance to double it. While it doesn’t have an actual impact on how the game will play out, I like to believe that when a dealer bets with me, we have a better chance of winning.
Cocktail Servers
Perhaps the most self-serving on this list, giving a tip to a cocktail waitress almost always ensures they will keep circling back to you when they make their rotations on the floor. I am an advocate for $2 or $3 per drink which is far less than I’d pay if I ordered the drink directly from the bar. Like with tipping dealers, $2 or $3 doesn’t sound like a lot at first but over the course of a few hours, I like to think it is a pretty decent show of appreciation especially if you’re there with a group.
Brian previously covered this topic back in 2018, you can read about how he makes his decision here.
Fun fact: I am haunted by the memory of the one time I had just taken some cash out of an ATM at Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa. The cash from the ATM was in one hand while I had some singles in the other when the server came back to hand me my drink. To my absolute horror, I accidentally tipped the waitress a $100 bill. Let the record show, it’s not that I didn’t think she didn’t deserve it, it is just that it is A LOT of money and was not accounted for in my gambling budget for the day. Thankfully, the cocktail waitress could see it was a mistake and graciously handed it back to me. I was very grateful and upgraded my customary $2 tip to $20 in an attempt to make up for my blunder.
Cashiers
Yes, if you bring your chips to exchange or need assistance with a time consuming request, you can tip at the cashier cage, but it isn’t something that is overly popular with players. If you feel like you received exceptional service and were not rushed away from the window to help the next guest, you can definitely slide a few bucks the team member’s way. While the dollar amount is totally up to you, in the few situations where I have tendered a tip at the cage, I’ll grab the big bills and leave some singles or a $5.
Slot Attendants
Score a jackpot? It is customary to tip out your slot attendant that comes for the hand pay. Out of all the tipping situations on our list, this particular scenario is often met with the most resistance. This is especially true if the player in question has had an overall losing day and believes the casino has already taken enough of their cash. In this situation it is important to remember that the money fed into a slot machine does not go directly to the floor team member’s pocket.
I like to tip using the “loose” bills that come with a jackpot. If I win $1,567 I would probably tip around $25 (keeping a few singles for drinks). If two people come to the payout, I might hand them each a $20. It truly depends on how the day has been going, if it is one of my “hangouts*,” and how many of those free drinks I have slurped down.
* I am a big proponent of tipping out a little more at your local spots that you spend a lot of time at. It helps build relationships and adds to the community feel of the spots you chose to play at.
Speaking to what Brian typically does, he follows 1% of the win or $20, whichever is greater. So, any jackpot up to $2,000 would be tipped $20, and above that would be 1% of the total.
That works out to something like:
- $1,200 jackpot: $20 tip
- $2,000 jackpot: $20 tip
- $5,000 jackpot: $50 tip
You can read a full article about tipping on handpay jackpots here!
