Numbers for the Dealers in craps

When tipping in Craps, I will often put down 6 $1 chips on each of the numbers as a tip for the dealers. This works well for me because the multiple payouts they make to themselves gets me a good deal of positive attention (and often a marginal bump in comps as a result). However as I watch the dealers pay themselves on these chips, I have always wondered if there is an official payout ratio on this bet, because it often seems like the dealers are paying themselves far more than any player bet would get for the same numbers. For example, on the 4 and 10, these $1 bets seem to almost always get paid at 2:1, which is a zero house edge--but I think I've seen 5 and 9 get paid 2:1 as well, which would be a big advantage. Is this correct, or is there a settling-up process taking place that I'm not aware of?

Yup....dealers get the "breakage" on low demonination dealer bets.

In Pai Gow Poker and Baccarat, there's no commission on a dealer bet. If a dealer gets a $5 toke bet and wins, he drops $5, not $4.75.
And in a crap game, dealers get paid true odds on the 4 & 10 if $4 or less is bet. If you bet $20 for the dealer on the 4 or 10, he'll get $19 though.

Heh. If they're paying themselves 2:1 on the 5 and 9, they're really boning the house; 2:1 on the 4 and 10 wouldn't be much of a transgression, and would be more than balanced out by even money on the 6 and 8, but 33% more than even true odds on the 5 and 9...woo hoo!

If a Harrah's dealer did that, they'd feed him to the lions.

Speaking of ways to make good bets as tips, in Three Card Poker you can make a tip for the dealer on the Ante, and you're not required to make a raise bet if you make one on your own bet. The player should raise the tip on an ace high or better only. That results in a 26% advantage on the tip.