After meals at fancy (or even not-so-fancy) restaurants, none of us thinks twice about leaving tip for deserving server. Strangely, however, many casino guests have trouble tipping dealers and servers when they play cards.
Tipping these folks is not mandatory; there’s no law that says we gamblers must fork over extra cash for good service. Still, considering that in many cases, dealers (and food servers, for that matter) earn 30 to 40 percent of their annual salary in tips, spreading a little love every now and then is expected, and a dip in gratuities means a hit to the money these people need to live.
Customary tips in a card room or casino vary depending on the person whom you’re tipping.
For dealers, gratuities should range from $1 per pot for average-size wins to $2 or $3 for larger ones. If you’re playing poker and win a bad-beat jackpot or are dealt four-of-a-kind that pays a cash bonus, it’s a nice gesture to give the dealer a big of a larger reward—usually somewhere around 5 percent of the take.
For food servers, tip protocols pretty much follow those you’d find in regular restaurants: 10 percent of the total bill for lousy service, 15 percent for average service and 20 percent for service that knocks your socks off.
Anything more (or less) is up to you.
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