Casino Operator vs Dealer

Dear Wiz,

So I have a debate I would like you to settle between my wife and I, mathematically of course. I am an operator in a table games department and she is a dealer in another casino. She states that dealer tip betting is bad for the house because when the dealer wins a tip bet, the casino is out that money because the player can no longer put it back in play as it goes into her locked tip box and ultimately into her paycheck. I contend that it is good for the house because we have an advantage off of every bet and over the long term the house makes money off of all of those tip bets. Additionally, she is assuming the player has some type of finite amount of money they are betting, which may be true in the short term per session, but over the life of the gambler, they keep coming back and betting more tip bets for the dealer.

Can you shed any light on this?

Pardon me for sticking my nose into this, but here's my take:

If it is bet, then one of two things happens; the house gets the money, or the dealers do.

If it is not bet, then either (a) the player gives the money directly to the dealer, or (b) the player pockets it. In the first case, the house never had a chance at the money, and in the second, a player that doesn't tip isn't really relevant to the situation. Or does your wife think that tipping dealers in general is bad?

Not to mention that the allowed practice of tipping allows the casino to pay "minimum wage plus tips". The casino would otherwise have to pay an on-the-record rate of $25 per hour or so out of their pocket, and not the customer's pocket through tips.

I prefer giving $ directly at the end of the session. Every bet (apart from craps odds bets) has a HE.

Dealer bets in BJ can be problematic. You have $50+5 out there and end up with 4 hands and 2 doubles. There's no right answer on how much you tip in that scenario. It can be nce the player probably was not expecting to tip $20 when making the $5 tip.

There is no question if the player is going to tip the house wants the money bet as opposed to going directly into the dealers tip box. The house would prefer the players don't tip at all that way they still have a chance of getting the money back.