Gambling Basics: Tipping the Dealer

Let's face it, casino dealers aren't exactly living the high life with their salaries. For most, minimum wage is all they get, with most of their earnings coming from customer tips. Like most gambling games in casinos, there are certain unwritten rules while you're playing in the house. Tipping is one of them.

Players are in now way obliged to hand tips to dealers. It is however, common courtesy to give tips to dealers if you find them helpful and polite - specially so if you're winning. Tipping while losing isn't expected though, even dealers won't mind if you don't give tips while you're in a funk.

Tipping is an easy process and it can be done in several ways. One way of tipping is to simply slide a casino chip or two towards the dealer and at the same time letting the dealer know it's a tip.

Most of the time though, tipping is done through betting. In this case, the tip takes the form of a bet which is placed by the player for the dealer. If the player wins, the dealer will get the tip, a lose on the other hand will snag the casino the money with the dealer not getting any tip.

Tipping is done via slightly different ways for each casino gambling game. The common method of giving tips in a game of blackjack is by placing additional bets in front of the player's betting box. One important note to remember here is to not tip too excessively because this can sometimes adversely alter the odds of the game. Also, never expect that the dealers will make the odds of winning greater for you if tip them.

Dealers at roulette tables seem to receive less frequent tips compared to other casino gambling games. The easiest and most common way of tipping while playing roulette is by placing a chip on the table and at the same time telling the dealer that it is a tip.

Since dealers are prohibited from taking cash or chips directly from the hand of the players, it is important to remember to not literally hand the tip to the dealer. Do it in an indirect manner, like the one mentioned above.

For casino gambling games like slots and video poker, tipping happens more rarely. This is understandable as there are no dealers to tip while playing these solitary games. Tipping is still possible however, as change persons can be given tips if the situation allows it.

And as a final note, always remember that no matter how small your tips may be, everything eventually adds up for the person you're tipping. So tip well and tip responsibly.