Tip pooling goes beyond what’s fair

Jimmy Wike, Mesquite

Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011 | 2:01 a.m.

Regarding Steve Green’s recent article on tip sharing:

I am recently retired after a 40-year career as a dealer, boxman, supervisor, pit boss, shift boss and casino manager. Until recent history, tip sharing occurred within different areas or pits of almost every major Strip casino. It is true that Wynn Resorts was the first to implement it casinowide, but as recently as nine or 10 years ago, many of the major baccarat pits in town included supervisors in their tip split. Historically, dice dealers who kept the tips earned by an individual crew routinely gave up part of their tips to boxmen, supervisors and pit bosses. These practices were eliminated by pooling tips among baccarat, dice and blackjack, thus making it a disincentive for supervisors to help a dealer earn tips and for dealers to give away part of them.

Putting tips on a paycheck rather than giving individuals daily or weekly cash also hastened the demise of this practice. From a managerial perspective it is easier to control players getting “hustled” and it does, to some extent, mitigate collusion between supervisors and dealers. Unfortunately it also decreases customer service.

If you polled your veteran Strip baccarat and dice dealers they will tell you that they prefer a segregated tip split and that you always will make more money when the boss is “in.” Those who disagree most likely don’t understand all the components of making a tip.