What does a dealer make?
Quote: SOOPOORelatively new to this site- love it. Anyway- I have been casino gambling for 30 years and never had the guts to ask someone- including tips, what would an average dealer at a 'regular' casino like Harrahs make? How much is in 'salary', and how much is from tips? Also- will craps dealers and, say, paigow dealers be paid the same? Are dealers in the high limit rooms paid more?
Dealers get paid minimum wage or close to it as a base, the rest is tips. In most locals casinos tips will be $12-22 per hour from what I have seen. At a fancy strip property they will range from $100-250/day in tips depending on time of day or year.
Sometimes dealers of some games like craps will get paid a little more in base. By a little more I mean $1/hr more, which at tipped minimum means about $5.50 instead of $4.50.
Most places seem to pool tips on a 24 hour basis. Meaning all tips are divided by all hours worked and dealers get the hourly rate. Poker dealers are virtually always "go for your own" and keep all of their own tips. Some houses let all dealers on all games "go for their own" which means any tips that dealer gets they keep, except craps which will be split crew for crew since working a craps game is a team job and going for their own per person would be difficut at best and cause major problems no matter what.
The last time I saw the print version was last summer (2009), where the reported tokes/shift were as low as $32 in a couple of downtown grind joints, and $450+ at Caesars. The basic numbers seemed to be mostly in these ranges: Downtown, $40-65, Local's joints, $45-90, Low-end Strip, $70-190, High-end Strip, $110-500.
These numbers are added to a base wage that is almost always minimum federal, with perhaps $1/hr more for some positions. Many dealers have told me that all of the base wage goes to pay the taxes on the tokes.
There are "break-in" local joints like Joker's wild, the Western, El Cortez, the Longhorn, etc at about $30 a day.
Then there are "comfortable" local places like Green Valley, Texas Station, Boulder Station, Sam's Town, Fiesta Henderson, Cannery properties, Golden Nugget, Main Street Station, Sunset Station, etc. Tips = $50 to $110 a day there.
Strip casinos are $90 to $200 a day tips.
There are a lot of nickel grinders out there!! 90% of our tips copme from 10% of the players.
I DO get good health benefits, along with six "floater" days and two weeks vacation, for three weeks paid time off.
After a few heart attacks, I would NOT be able to get either health insurance or life insurance on my own.
I will keep this job until I am REALLY independently wealthy, if that happens, because I would have to "self-insure."
Quote: PaigowdanSome local casinos in the LV area are about $25 to $75 a day in tips on top of minimum wage, or $3.12 to $9.37 an hour.
There are "break-in" local joints like Joker's wild, the Western, El Cortez, the Longhorn, etc at about $30 a day.
Then there are "comfortable" local places like Green Valley, Texas Station, Boulder Station, Sam's Town, Fiesta Henderson, Cannery properties, Golden Nugget, Main Street Station, Sunset Station, etc. Tips = $50 to $110 a day there.
Strip casinos are $90 to $200 a day tips.
There are a lot of nickel grinders out there!! 90% of our tips copme from 10% of the players.
I DO get good health benefits, along with six "floater" days and two weeks vacation, for three weeks paid time off.
After a few heart attacks, I would NOT be able to get either health insurance or life insurance on my own.
I will keep this job until I am REALLY independently wealthy, if that happens, because I would have to "self-insure."
You mean until 2014 when obamacare goes into full effect. There will be no more individual rating in health insurance after that. Age will be the only factor that can impact insurance rates. Life insurance is another story
Quote: ruascott
You mean until 2014 when obamacare goes into full effect. There will be no more individual rating in health insurance after that. Age will be the only factor that can impact insurance rates. Life insurance is another story
And at that point no one will be able to afford what the government calls "acceptable" care and we will all be laid off since employers will not be able to keep employees on with all the mandates anyways :-)
Other dealers rarely Keep Their Own, pooling is usually mandatory and some casinos force tip sharing with first line supervisors. The Wynn takes dealers tips and shares them with Floormen. Not an admired move for Wynn to have taken but a dealer at the Wynn usually makes good money anyway. Tips vary.
Dealer oriented newsletters do exist but often have various conflicts of interest on revealing toke rates. Often such information is not entirely reliable if its released.
A Venetian dealer will make far, far more than a break in joint such as the El Cortez. A place with a one dollar craps table such as Jokers Wild in the outer regions of Hendertucky will not make much money so how could its dealers ever do very well there?
All dealers seem to be hurting right now, some far more than others.
Quote: FleaStiffThe Wynn takes dealers tips and shares them with Floormen. Not an admired move for Wynn to have taken but a dealer at the Wynn usually makes good money anyway. Tips vary.
Do you know if that's a necessity to retain the floor supervisors at the Wynn? I could see that staff continuity would be important at a high-end place like that.
The folks at Canterbury Park here in MN have complained to me more than once that they make more as dealers than they do as floor supervisors. So they have a hard time deciding whether to take the "promotion" to a salary-only management position with a lower average total cash payment. I think sharing tips with those people on a non-parity basis (maybe 80% dealers, 20% floor supervisors) helps keep the floor supervisors happy. It's not exactly the same thing, but I think this is also the reason that restaurant servers kick back tips to the host. If they didn't, nobody would want to be the host - there's more money to be made as a server.
I can deal bj, switch, double attack, sp21, 3 and 4 card poker, war, caribbean stud, let it ride, pai gow, roulette, tiles and craps.....I spend most of my time in high limit craps and tiles.....if i could only deal bj then i would make about $1 less.
Quote: ruascott
You mean until 2014 when obamacare goes into full effect. There will be no more individual rating in health insurance after that. Age will be the only factor that can impact insurance rates. Life insurance is another story
assuming obamacare survives, or that these dates don't keep getting pushed into the future
That health insurance coverage is a big part in continuing a $31,000 a year job as a dealer at a "nice" $5 house, or as a $47,000 executive in the gaming industry with a lapse or without it.
We see now it's not just the take-home pay.
Quote: rdw4potus
The folks at Canterbury Park here in MN have complained to me more than once that they make more as dealers than they do as floor supervisors. So they have a hard time deciding whether to take the "promotion" to a salary-only management position with a lower average total cash payment. I think sharing tips with those people on a non-parity basis (maybe 80% dealers, 20% floor supervisors) helps keep the floor supervisors happy. It's not exactly the same thing, but I think this is also the reason that restaurant servers kick back tips to the host. If they didn't, nobody would want to be the host - there's more money to be made as a server.
This is a problem common to many industries when you have an incentive-based line employee. A good salesman can make more than his sales manager. A good auto mechanic at an auto dealer can make more than the service advisor, etc. The second step in management will usually put them back above where they were. But deciding to take that first step seperates the people who are serious about climbing the corporeate ladder. Think about it-a floorman produces zero revenue but is the least experienced management the casino has. It is logical that they will be paid a little less.
However, I think it is a stain on an otherwise fine reputation that Steve Wynn literally takes money from his dealer's pockets to pay his own employees.
Quote: AZDuffmanThink about it-a floorman produces zero revenue but is the least experienced management the casino has. It is logical that they will be paid a little less.
However, I think it is a stain on an otherwise fine reputation that Steve Wynn literally takes money from his dealer's pockets to pay his own employees.
I think most of Steve Wynn's problems over this issue derive more from the heavy-handed manner in which he implemented the policy rather than the actual policy itself. Waitresses have shared tips with the hostess and with the bartender and often with the bar-back. A bikini clad waitress at a Vegas pool party is required to tip the bartender a certain percentage and the bar-back a certain percentage.
Its difficult to have a first line supervisor have a financial incentive though. And many people are suit wearing supervisors one day and uniformed dealers the next day. ALL dealers feel that they themselves bring in the tips and other dealers are tip-parasites and well as the floorperson being a tip-parasite. I think its agreed upon that in most places, BJ dealers bring in the tips and that BJ dealers are usually females. Craps dealers clearly work harder and use more math. I think most places sweeten their share or their salary to some degree. Carney games are thought to be drains on the tips, but this may be changing.
Anyway, dealer income varies by type of casino, shift, game assignment, etc. Many of the dealers make far more than the players who tip them. It is a strange world. It always will be.
