After 15 years: "Casino-tips fight" resolved

As the US-Magazine Las Vegas Review-Journal reports, in connection with internal court documents, the longstanding “Casino tips fight“ between the Wynn-Casino and its croupiers has been finally resolved. However, the Wynn Resorts Ltd., as part of a settlement, agreed to pay out a sum amounting to 5,6 million US-Dollar to its croupiers. But how could a fight over tips run into millions?

After about 15 years, the legendary “tips fight“ between Wynn Resorts Ltd. and their former and actual croupiers in a reconciliatory settlement. The company is prepared to compensate its workers with a total amount of 5,6 million US-Dollar (around 4,8 million euro). This was preceded by a tough legal fight, during which the approach of the company as regards tips was criticised.

Fight between croupiers and casino operators resolved

It took around 15 years but finally it seems that all those involved are happy. It may have taken around 15 years, but in the end everyone involved seemed satisfied. For years, the Wynn Resorts had asked its croupiers to share the tips with their supervisors. The reason: The founder of the business at that time, Steve Wynn, had feared, that the position would not be financially attractive enough for the supervisors. These received, contrary to the croupiers working the tables, no tips. To be fair, the founder decided that the tips will be split between the croupiers and the supervisors.

Croupiers could receive attractive tips regularly, which could make the role of the supervisors look financially unattractive, as a “simple” dealer could end up earning more. However the venture of the company founder did not go particularly well with the croupiers. They then started a legal fight and requested the payment of all the revenue from tips.

1,000 Dealers share around 5,6 million US-Dollar

The Las Vegas Review-Journal has reported a few days ago, that the U.S. District Court in Nevada had already accepted the settlement. According to the latter, around 1,000 current and former dealers of the house will receive a total of 5,6 million US-Dollars. On average each Wynn-Croupier will receive the amount of 5,600 US-Dollars as settlement. However, in the “monster-trial“, lawyer fees have reached a total cost of 1,4 million US-Dollars. Besides, further costs must be covered, so that at the end of the day, each croupier will only be left with a compensation sum of around 4,150 US-Dollar.

The idea of the “Casino mogul“, to share tips with the supervisors was well intended from the outset. The group emphasised, that the supervising team leader would have also taken good care of the players and therefore it would be fair that they get a share of the tips. However, Wynn could have set the remuneration of the team leaders as higher from the beginning, and thus avoid such a “tips fight”.

Worse hourly rate for Wynn-Dealers

It is not only in the casinos in Las Vegas which the dealers receive a relatively low hourly rate. Wynn-Dealers have in the past reported of receiving a remuneration of 5 to 8.75 US-Dollar per hour. Therefore they had to always rely on getting a high tip from the players. There is a similar situation with service staff in America, who partly earn even less and therefore also rely on getting a heavy tip.

When considering these circumstances, the compensation sum of a bit more than 4,000 US-Dollars per employee is not especially high. In 2018, one of those female plaintiffs had already worked out that she had lost around 150,000 US-Dollars in tips which she had involuntarily shared with her superiors during her thirteen-year employment. 

Conclusion

The Casino operator Wynn compensates around 1,000 former and current dealers with a total amount of 5,6 million US-Dollar. This ends a 15 year continuous legal dispute. A Wynn-spokesperson happily stated: “We are pleased that all partiess have worked together to find a solution and conclude this situation satisfactorily.” Many croupiers however had wished for a higher compensation.

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