Casino returns $5,000 tip

Thursday, Sept. 7, 2000 | 9:22 a.m.

"Dealers' money," the man said before walking away in frustration.

Managers weren't comfortable accepting such a hefty tip, so they tracked him down and asked him if he really meant to leave that much money.

"He said, 'You know what? I request my money back because I wasn't thinking clearly,"' said Kevin Kaufman, Harveys director of casino operations.

Verne Welch, the casino's general manager, said he has seen similar incidents in Las Vegas. "The guest will get upset and say, 'Here. Why don't you just take it all?' So you sit on the money until they cool down," he said.

At Harveys and many other casinos, customers' tips are pooled among dealers, so the decision to return the money upset some dealers.

"We love to see our dealers make money because it makes them happy," Kaufman said. "And if you have happy dealers, you have happy customers.

"The main thing was that we didn't want the customer coming back and saying, 'You know what? You guys stole my money."'

The man reportedly lost about $90,000 at craps on Aug. 26, and became angry when a supervisor wouldn't allow him to continue to exceed the casino's betting limits.

Kaufman would say only that the man had lost a "decent amount of money" and there was a "miscommunication" regarding how much he should be permitted to wager.

"This gentleman has a pattern of playing here," Welch said. "This is not the first time he has done things similar to this, but it is the first time he threw it on the table."

Julie Hamilton, supervisor of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation's gaming unit in western Iowa, said the question of whether the tip belongs to the dealers or the gambler appears to be an internal matter.

However, she said she probably will consult with the Pottawattamie County attorney's office "to make sure that everything is legally OK."

Kaufman said he believes Harveys did the right thing.

"I am positive that if we said to him, 'We are sorry, we are not going to give you the money back,' he would not tip the dealers the next time. In the long run, the dealers will probably end up making more money."