Say it ain't so, Steve.

In case you have missed the news reports, allow me to tell you a little story.

Casino executives, by and large, have always resented it when a player won big and tipped big.

The way they see it, that tip is money that should have gone directly to the bottom line of the casino. After all, if the player didn't tip with it what else could he do? Play, play and play some more and eventually all that money is sitting in the cage waiting to be counted. The way they see it that toke money is never coming back to them. Is that really the case? Sure, there are dealers who are smart and never gamble. I'd guess them to be in the minority. Most dealers tend to spread that toke income around. More than a fair share of it eventually ends up in the casino coffers anyway.

Since Wynn opened his joint the dealers there have been making some serious bank. On the surface, Wynn dealers were the envy of the rest of us--non-Wynn dealers. Festering away, just under the surface was the fact that many Wynn dealers were working way more than 40 hours per week. It appears that the supervisory ranks were working a lot of hours too, but we'll get back to that subject soon. Not being able to count on scheduled days off can wreak havoc on your personal life. Having requested days off denied can certainly make a person less than happy. There are things that need to be taken care of. Maybe it's a doctor's appointment. Sister's wedding. Important things.

Let's return to the supervisory ranks at Wynn. From day one, the dealers there did so well that they almost always made more than the "suits". This doesn't sit well with some of the suits, but from my point of view it is to be expected. There are many many casinos where the dealers end up making more than salaried personnel.
It's a tradeoff that I've not been able to justify for myself. Sure, there are drawbacks to being paid an hourly wage of $5.85. NOTHING over that is assured. If I take a paid day off, I get paid 8 x $5.85. Pit dealers typically get a cut of the tokes as well as their hourly wage when they take an approved day off. Again, there is a trade off between dealing in the pit and in the poker room. Keeping your own tips in the poker room, to me at least, makes up for the fact that I don't get a cut of any tokes when I take a paid day off.

We all make choices.

This week Steve Wynn made a choice too. He had a problem on his hands. Considering the fact that a dealer was making more, sometimes MUCH more, than his "suits, he was having trouble filling his supervisory ranks with experienced and qualified people. One solution might have been to give his floor staff a raise in an amount that somewhat leveled the playing field. This, alas, was too reasonable of an idea.

What has he chosen to do?

Can you say MONEY GRAB?

Steve Wynn has implimented, effective next week, a policy that will give his salaried staff a cut of the dealers tokes.

This is, in my opinion, wrong on so many levels that it surely had to be a joke.

No joke.

Salaried personnel will be given a (2/5) 40% share of a dealers cut for the day.

This has caused an uproar to say the least. Some who are green with envy seem to have taken some pleasure from it. To them and any rational person, I suggest that you look at it this way. Regardless of how much you currently make, how would YOU feel if your employer decided to reduce YOUR salary by 10 or 20% and give that money to YOUR supervisor. I doubt that anyone would appreciate it too much.

If this policy does go into effect, we had better all keep a hand on our wallets. Where does it stop?

Dealers have traditionally been a fractured group who can never seem to agree on anything. Possible unionization is discussed periodically, but never seems to gain traction. Unions would LOVE to bring Las Vegas dealers into the fold. Steve Wynn may have just opened up the can containing the union worms.

Where Steve leads, will others follow? It's highly likely.

Personally, I have never been pro-union. Then again, I don't see Mr. Wynn reducing his unionized employees pay by 10-20%.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I still want to think that this is all a hoax.

Read all about it Here, here, and here

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