$10 million windfall
The age-old Las Vegas tipping debate has reared its ugly head on social media. Earlier this month, Vegas insider account Vital Vegas reported on someone hitting a $10.5 million slots jackpot at Mandalay Bay on just a $5 bet. Posting on X, the account said, “There is a 96% chance the winner didn’t tip.”
Fast forward to Monday, when Vital Vegas posted a follow-up that it was an “older couple from Iowa” that won and did not tip, “…not even the $4 left on the machine after the jackpot. Cashed it out and took it with them. Do better, humans.”
Social media influencer Las Vegas Locally chimed in, saying, “If you hit a $10 million slot jackpot in Vegas you should tip the people who provided good service and made the trip fun — cocktail servers, hotel staff, slot attendants, floor staff, dealers if you played tables.”
“Anything between $30,000 and $300K, spread around, is fine,” they added.
The vast majority of replies to the two accounts are against tipping. One X user, “RebelScum,” said, “Why would someone have to tip a machine? I wouldn’t either. Tipping is fng dumb. They got lucky and the casino didn’t. Does the casino tip you for losing?”
Others echoed that sentiment, arguing that it is ridiculous to tip when there was no human involved in the game, when it was just a slot machine.
Both sides state their case
Poker player and owner of the Poker Fraud Alert website, questioned Las Vegas Locally, asking, “Why should an employee be tipped 6 figures for spending a short time filling out paperwork?”
Witteles added that gamblers should “normalize” an informal cap on tips. He continued in a subsequent post, asking why the jackpot winner should spread tips around to everyone when nobody had anything to do with the win. He did agree that tipping is totally fine, but only if it is up to the player, not if it is expected.
Las Vegas Locally made the point that casino staff earn low base pay and rely on tips. There were plenty of people at the venue that contributed to the winning couple having fun during their stay, they said, and staffers worked to be sure the winners got their money and filled out the correct paperwork.
Witteles agreed that those aren’t bad reasons, but that winners also shouldn’t feel compelled to make up for a casino not paying employees properly by tipping some extremely large amount.
Another person recalled a time they won a jackpot, saying that they tipped so much they regretted it later, but then had a gambler’s karma moment and won another jackpot to make up for it. “That’s why you tip,” the poster said.
All in all, most people disagreed with feeling obligated to tip after winning a big casino jackpot, especially when it was hit on a machine. Some did begrudgingly see the benefit to tipping casino employees who count on tips for their income, but resented casinos for paying low wages.
What say you? To tip or not to tip?
Photo by Sam Dan Truong on Unsplash