Tip-sharing cloud forming over Encore, Wynn critics say

Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008 | 2 a.m.

For more than three decades, Steve Wynn has had a reputation as an inspiring casino boss who publicly praises his employees and assures them that a single job well done can “change the course of the whole enterprise.”

He is known for paying his employees well and negotiating amicably with unions. And he creates luxurious resorts where workers aspire to find employment.

And yet as he prepares to staff his new Encore, Wynn’s reputation, at least among casino dealers, is still suffering nearly two years after he instituted a policy at Wynn Las Vegas that requires dealers share their tips with supervisors.

That controversial policy — which is being challenged in court and is the subject of a pending complaint with the state labor commissioner — touched off a union organizing campaign along the Strip among dealers who feared the spread of similar policies. Dealers at Wynn Las Vegas and Caesars Palace voted for the union, but dealers at the Rio voted down the Transport Workers Union last month.

Some dealers said the dispute has tarnished Wynn’s image among tipped workers, many of whom will be reluctant to give up stable jobs to apply at Encore, a $2.3 billion resort that is to open next to Wynn Las Vegas by the end of the year.

Wynn said Encore will have a tip-sharing policy similar to its sister property and that workers will be satisfied knowing that upfront.

But dealers said the policy will keep away some potential Encore employees.

“I can’t see any experienced dealer working in a decent casino giving up what they have to go over to Encore,” said Al Maurice, a dealer at Mirage who assisted the union campaign at Wynn Las Vegas. “I believe he will have to settle for a lot of inexperienced help straight out of dealers school or from minor casinos.”

“His reputation is mud right now,” added a Rio dealer who requested anonymity. “But if you’re only making $80 a day at a downtown property and you can make at least $150 a day at Encore, you’re going to take that job.”

Wynn dismissed such criticism, saying dealers have “calmed down” since the union vote.

“We’ve never had a better culture,” he said. “The attitude of our staff is absolutely delicious.”

Wynn also said dealers behaved like “angels” by not letting the tip dispute affect their job performance.

“It caused a problem and I apologize. But we’ve told them we’re going to stick to our program.”

Wynn said the policy has improved customer service by giving supervisors more incentive to engage with customers and has increased the job pool for supervisory positions.

Critics say the policy has unlawfully enriched supervisors, saving the company on salaries by giving managers some of the money traditionally earned by dealers.

About 32 percent of Encore’s workforce will be transfers from Wynn Las Vegas who will help train newcomers in the company’s culture and business practices. Recruiters with clipboards roam employee areas at Wynn Las Vegas, encouraging workers to ask about jobs at Encore. Posters rally workers to seek their “dream” job next door.

Wynn dealers, however, are barred from taking jobs at Encore. The company says offering jobs for Wynn dealers next door while the union is negotiating a contract for dealers could be considered an inducement to leave the property and therefore a violation of federal labor law. The union disagrees.

Despite all this, and, as expected in this depressed job market, Wynn Resorts has been deluged with job applications.

Encore had received 24,000 by the third day of hiring, which began last month on the Web site wynnjobs.com. Nearly 60 percent of those applications, Wynn said, came during the first 30 hours. Encore will have about 5,300 employees.

Wynn said many of the applicants will likely be out-of-towners or unemployed because people with jobs are afraid to risk accepting a new job with a probationary period.

His critics say that’s a departure from the opening of Wynn Las Vegas, for which dealer supervisors left top jobs at other properties with the expectation they would be the highest-paid dealers on the Strip.

To lure applicants to Encore, Wynn Resorts has run local radio ads in which Wynn refers to his employees as company “treasures” and hired skywriters to publicize the company’s employment Web site over Southern California.

During a conference call with investors last month, Wynn said his primary concern isn’t the economic downturn that has so many other casino executives sweating, but rather the important task of finding the best applicants for Encore.

“This period we’re in is really key. ... This is one of the great creative moments,” he said, referring to the hiring process. “If we can get happy souls that really like each other ... we will prevail in the future in any economic environment.”

Discussion: 14 comments so far…

By true_rebel_fan

8/7/08 at 7:44 a.m.

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fortunately or unfortunately, dealers are a dime a dozen. who cares? if you have a problem with the tip situation, move on to another casino. oh yeah, then, you'll make no money. please be thankful you have a job.
By aWynndealer

8/7/08 at 10:01 a.m.

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The comment above is ridiculous for many reasons. I have worked as a dealer for 16 years. You just don't quit and get another job, Einstein! I have a mortgage to pay and I can't work part-time. Yes, dealers with little experience and no personalities are a dime a dozen. Competent ones that look good, smell good and can have a conversation and deal at the same time, are hard to come by. S.W. is realizing this right now.
By neiman1

8/7/08 at 10:22 a.m.

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The "supervisors" or pit bosses have more to do with the attitude of the higher tippers (higher wager players) than anything else. How quickly they get a marker or come and approve the players cash entry to the game are very important to the players experience and smiling players tip better. The team approach is best in all working environments. Dealers should welcome the supervisors sharing and therefor involvement in the players experience, after all, that should be everyones goal.
By azsk8fan

8/7/08 at 10:41 a.m.

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Supervisors can no longer make unbiased calls on situations anymore because they now know that their decision has the possibility of affecting their own pockets - it's a conflict of interest on the behalf of the casino.
By true_rebel_fan

8/7/08 at 11:02 a.m.

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i totally agree that there are potential ethical issues with having any type of management involved in gathering tips. once something happens, then, the state will adopt new regulations.

and for the comment above:

sorry, awynndealer, you may be a great, bright, and friendly dealer, but, as you know, the casino can dismiss you today and not blink an eye. i hope they don't, but if they do there are a thousand or more dealers ready to take advantage of the opportunity. that's why i said be thankful you have a job. if you had to go somewhere else, you'd make less then you do sharing tips.
By LVBear

8/7/08 at 1:19 p.m.

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Dealers are overpaid. Even at minimum wage, with the excessive tipping many suckers (err, "good customers") engage in, the high-end dealers make more than most police officers, nurses, or teachers. Yet the dealer has a job that requires no formal education, no real skills, and only a few weeks of training. Many dealers barely speak English, and many have minimal or NO "people skills."

Yet people line up to take dealer jobs. Why? Because dealing is a better job than they are able to find elsewhere. There are a few exceptions, particularly bright young people who may be dealers for a short time while going to school or getting ready to embark on other careers, but need immediate employment.

Granted, it's an unpleasant environment and mind-numbingly boring work, frequently dealing with disrespectful, hostile, often drunken members of the public. But that doesn't take away the fact that there is no dealer shortage anywhere that I'm aware of. So the job must not be that bad for those willing to do it.
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Opinions and Commentary on the Gaming Industry: www.TheBearGrowls.com
By boftx

8/7/08 at 1:51 p.m.

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The fact that there are plenty of white Americans working as dealers should tell you that the job is not that unpleasant or low-paying. One has only to look at the racial/ethnic make-up of any job to see how desireable it is.

The real issue has already been stated, that tip-sharing with supers will introduce a conflict of interest.
By eccitante

8/7/08 at 2:11 p.m.

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The issue is whether or not this is theft. If a patron gives a tip to the dealer he is giving it to the dealer, not to Mr. Wynn so that he can steal it and redistribute it to someone else.... Sounds just like what the thugs in our government have been doing for years. And what a wonderful job they do at redistributing and spending our stolen money. (but at least the private sector (Mr Wynn) does it more efficiently).
Competent dealers that look good, smell good and can have a conversation and deal at the same time should boycott Wynn and work somewhere where they are not stolen from.
This is nothing new, it is just the next step in a direction this industry has been going in for years - going from table for table (keep your own) to shift for shift, to splitting tips over a 24 hour period.
Eventually the service will start to suck as front line employees lose their incentive to even bother with putting any effort in. When that happens the local economy will suffer. Socialism at its finest.
By timaay

8/7/08 at 4:36 p.m.

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The real problem is not supervisor conflict of interest, that is a side issue. Steve committed larceny, essentially, by taking tokes against the will of the owners, the dealers.
In a free country you cannot force another to do something against their will. MGM/Mirage CEO Terry Lani got it right when he said 'dealer's tips are THEIR income and we will not take any of them.'
MGM/Mirage understands property rights and freedom. Wynn is practicing larceny.
eccitante is absolutely right when saying it is an issue of theft.
Wynn is undermining the very underpinnings of a free America.
By virgil23x3

8/8/08 at 12:02 a.m.

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No matter how much money you make, no one is going to be happy losing 20% - 30% of their annual income. To try and make up for the loss, the owner will give you a bonus if you pass certain criteria. But, to receive that bonus, the table games department must make 600 million for the year. This year, that is impossible. Working six days a week for the first year and a half, putting in a special request so you can have your regular day off to go to the doctor, dentist, child's recital was insane. Because the owner doesn't know what is happening in his own building, he takes a drastic step instead of finding out why people are unhappy. Most of the floor still do exactly what they did before the change and do not add to the guest experience.
By dave202

8/8/08 at 4:38 a.m.

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How can you lose money if you've never made it? Dealers are lining up to get a job at Wynn because even with the tip sharing, they'll make more than almost any other casino on the Strip and because Wynn treats his employees like gold. Dealers have no "right" to a tip. The courts have upheld that, so their only recourse is to whine and complain about their $100K a year job to the people of Nevada who are having trouble putting food on the table today. Good luck with that one!
By WynnEmployee

8/8/08 at 5:32 p.m.

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I left a job with seniority, vacation, benefits. Why don't I just leave Wynn? If I could get a job like I had before I left Wynn, I would. The fact that there are dealers lining up to get my job does not give anyone the right to steal my money to pay their supervisors or to treat people like trash. We may not have the "right" to a tip but we do have the right to keep a tip that a customer chose to give me because of the service I gave them. It may take only a couple weeks to train to be a dealer but it takes much longer to become proficient at it and to learn how to deal with high end players takes years of experience. I would love to see someone who has been dealing for a couple months go to Wynn and deal to the action we do. That would be laughable. Oh, and customers DO NOT tip supervisors!!!
By dhanch

8/10/08 at 8:24 a.m.

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As a frequent visitor to Las Vegas, I'll jump in and put in my 2 cents. Until August of 2006, I was a big Steve Wynn fan. As a real estate developer, I can't help but admire his skills and track record. But he had absolutely no right to do what he did.

Had he opened the property with the new tip policy in place so new hires would have full knowledge of the policy and could make an informed decision, I might not object so much. But to open the property and be open for over a year with the original(and proper) tip policy in place and then change the tip policy after so many dealers had made financial commitments after determining what their income would be under the old policy is plain wrong. I'm sure that there are plenty of dealers included in all the statistics that we are constantly bombarded with about Vegas foreclosures doubling in the last year.

He probably needed to give the supervisors a raise and should have given them a raise that was added to the overhead of the company, not at the expense of the dealers. The opportunity for friction in the pit between employees is too great and unnecessary. Dealers and team leaders (as I think they call them now) need to be just that- a TEAM. I have met many great dealers and many great supervisors at that property and it is wrong to drive a wedge in between them.

Finally, as a player at that resort, the thing that pisses me off the most is that no consideration has been given to what my intentions are when I put a tip bet on the table. Steve says its his money. WRONG. Its my money unless the tip bet loses. Until then I'll tell you who I want to get that tip and thats the only opinion that should matter to SW, the dealers, and the courts.
By williampitts77

7/15/09 at 3:23 a.m.

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I'm a dealer on the world famous Las Vegas strip. My income has mostly come from
gratuitous customers who choose to set at my table for the past twenty years.
Not once did I ever hear a casino owner hint that maybe my tips could possible belong
to another department(s) members. For more than fifty years; tip the dealer meant
-tip the dealer- not the porter not the painter not the plumber!It is easy to understand why Steve elected to take this action. The supervisors have been biting his ears for more salary for years. They never asked for a cut of the dealers tokes. Steve decided to increase the salaries at the expense of the dealers.
Yes, my fellow dealers, this one is a no-brainer. The only reason it has gone this long
is because it was the idea of Mr. Steve. Over the past few decades, Mr. Steve's ideas
are evaluated nine ways from sundown.
Everyone knows this one is a stinker. If you now stand-up and confess the foolishness
of its conception, I know we all will admit to the genius standing in your shoes.
William J Pitts, Jr.