Giving Scratch Lotto Tickets as A Tip

A friend of mine has started giving out scratch lotto tickets as tips wherever he goes. For example, if he gets something at Starbucks, he will drop a $1 scratch ticket. If he has lunch, he might give the waitress a $5 ticket. He loves to gamble, and his feeling is that this gives the person he is tipping the chance to win a lot of money.

While I personally love to gamble, I understand that not everyone else does. What do you think about giving scratch lotto tickets as a tip?

At Starbucks, where tips are accepted but not expected, and where the typical tip is just a quarter or so, a $1 lottery ticket is fine.

However, for a waitress, who is expecting a tip, and may even be depending on it to pay her bills, the lottery ticket is an expensive way to be cheap.

The return on most state lotteries is, what?, 45%? So that ticket he gave the waitress, which cost him $5, is only worth $2.25 to the waitress.

Of course, since the waitress may not understand EV, and probably does understand that most individual tickets are losers, she will probably think more about it being worth zero, than any of the potential prizes.


I think it's fine to give as gifts. It's the thought that counts. Putting $10 worth of lottery tickets in a birthday card is a lot more socially acceptable than a $10 check.


On a side note, when I work a wedding as a DJ or Reverend, I will add my own wedding card to the gift pile, and will include a few lottery tickets. Generally in the area of 1% of my fee is returned as lotter tickets. Of course, as one of the hired vendors, I am not expected to give a wedding gift, or even a card, so the gesture is appreciated by the couple. More than once I've gotten replies that they had won. Not the big prize, but more than the value of the tickets. Cool.

The only time I see giving wait staff a lottery ticket as an acceptable tip is when it's already a winner...

Say you play every day for enjoyment, and you get $1 and $2 winners frequently. Tipping with those would allow the waiter/waitress to cash it in without having to pay taxes on it (well, at least work taxes). This would still be rude, and I'm sure the waiter/waitress would curse you, but technically you would be saving them money.

If you wanted to stick in a lottery ticket with an appropriate tip, I think that's fine. There are people who have moral objections to it though, so to a total stranger, I would never tip that way.

It's kind of like when I'm in a casino. I don't play BJ side bets, but if the dealer is really encouraging it, I might put the dollar on that instead of the main bet. I always indicating what I'm doing. The other day, at Horseshoe, I had a dealer who told me she ALWAYS plays side bets, no matter how bad they are. It was a Lucky Ladies table, so there was no way I would play it, but when I asked her if she wanted the tip there or on the main bet, she said she'd rather have it there. We didn't win, but I don't think we won on the main bet either.

Quote: Tiltpoul

Say you play every day for enjoyment, and you get $1 and $2 winners frequently. Tipping with those would allow the waiter/waitress to cash it in without having to pay taxes on it (well, at least work taxes). This would still be rude, and I'm sure the waiter/waitress would curse you, but technically you would be saving them money.

That's as rude as tipping the hotel housekeeper with chips. Sure, it's as good as cash, but a PITA to them.

For the record, it's acceptable to tip casino waitresses in chips, only because to tip in cash would cause the games to run slower. Can't have that!

Plus, the process for a casino employee to cash in is probably easier than it is for a non-casino employee.

Back when I worked in the sports book, a bettor tipped me with a $10 futures bet of 30 to 1 for the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl. I greatly appreciated it, and the Chiefs made it to the AFC championship game but lost. If they would have won I was going to hedge.

Sometime circa 1999-2000, I was living in Chicago. There was a story in the local news at the time about a group of factory workers who pooled funds for a lottery ticket every payday. One week one of them maybe had a few too many after work and gave the group's ticket to a bar waitress as a tip. That ticket hit for something like thirty million and everyone ended up in court, including the bar where the tipping took place. As I recall, the bar was called Pizza Pub if anyone wants to try to Google for the story. I think everyone (waitress included) ended up splitting the prize, but I don't recall for sure.

Lottery tickets are bearer instruments, so, if the story is as you suggest, that waitress was being a VERY good sport.

"The lottery is a tax on stupid people"- Peter from Sunday's Family Guy

"The lottery is a tax on stupid people"- Peter from Sunday's Family Guy

But the proceeds go to beautify the parks, How sweet!

Quote: Tiltpoul

It's kind of like when I'm in a casino. I don't play BJ side bets, but if the dealer is really encouraging it, I might put the dollar on that instead of the main bet. I always indicating what I'm doing. The other day, at Horseshoe, I had a dealer who told me she ALWAYS plays side bets, no matter how bad they are. It was a Lucky Ladies table, so there was no way I would play it, but when I asked her if she wanted the tip there or on the main bet, she said she'd rather have it there. We didn't win, but I don't think we won on the main bet either.

Heh. I usually find making a bet for the dealers on the side bet shuts them up about it. Example:

Dice crew: Get your bets up, horns, hi-low! Hey shooter, how about putting something on that fire bet?
Me: One dollar fire bet for the dealers.
Dice crew: [muted]Thank you, sir.

touche Sir, well done

Quote: teddys

Heh. I usually find making a bet for the dealers on the side bet shuts them up about it. Example:

Dice crew: Get your bets up, horns, hi-low! Hey shooter, how about putting something on that fire bet?
Me: One dollar fire bet for the dealers.
Dice crew: [muted]Thank you, sir.

LOL! I gotta try that next time I'm playing Craps. Stick says bet the horn? Dollar on horn for the crew!

Quote: DJTeddyBear

That's as rude as tipping the hotel housekeeper with chips. Sure, it's as good as cash, but a PITA to them.

I hadn't realized that was any sort of inconvenience to them at all. Usually I leave a few dollar bills but I've often left chips.

Quote: heather

Dollar on horn for the crew!

Okay. A horn bet is a way of making four bad bets at once. So that means that even if it hits, seventy five cents was lost but there was a quarter on the winning bet for the dealers.

Quote: heather

Sometime circa 1999-2000, I was living in Chicago. There was a story in the local news at the time about a group of factory workers who pooled funds for a lottery ticket every payday. One week one of them maybe had a few too many after work and gave the group's ticket to a bar waitress as a tip. That ticket hit for something like thirty million and everyone ended up in court, including the bar where the tipping took place. As I recall, the bar was called Pizza Pub if anyone wants to try to Google for the story. I think everyone (waitress included) ended up splitting the prize, but I don't recall for sure.

Lottery tickets can be the apple of discord in more ways than that.

In many restaurants waiters pool tips. In almost all, waiters share tips with the busboy and/or the kitchen staff. In such a case, let's say the waitress takes the lottery ricket and replaces it with $5 off her own pocket. That seems fair, right? and given how unlikely a win is, it's even better for the rest of the crew. But supose the ticket hits a big prize, let's say $10,000. Or suppose simply the waitress scratches off the ticket and finds a big prize but tells no one. What then?

Or suppose she does tell whoever she shares or pools tips with that they've won. Is the prize money dirtibuted evenly, or pro-rated to the usual distribution of tip money? assuming the waitress shares 15% withe busboy and 10% with the kitchen is that how the prize moneys' distributed or not?

On such basis alone, I'd never tip with lottery tickets. Btter toss a golden apple with a vague message and be done :)