As a former casino dealer in Las Vegas, I’ve seen firsthand how much a dealer can make. Over the years, I’ve gathered a wealth of information, not just from my own experience but from a network of dealers across the US.
I’ve carefully tracked information about tips for over two decades. As a result, I’ve been able to get a clear picture of the earnings potential in this unique line of work.
In this article, I’ll break down how much casino dealers actually make, from base pay to tips (or “tokes,” as we call them in Vegas), and explain the various factors that influence a dealer’s paycheck.
American Casino Dealer Salaries
Learn Everything About Casino Dealer Salaries and Tips in USA
Casino Dealer Pay Breakdown: Salary & Tips
Dealers generally get paid minimum wage plus tips, but base wages can vary significantly. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual wage for gambling dealers in the US is $40,030, or about $19.25 per hour.
Wages can range from around $21,410 for the lowest earners (10th percentile) to $75,200 for top earners (90th percentile).
However, a dealer’s true earnings largely depend on tips, which can dramatically increase their overall income. Factors like the casino’s tier, location, and events also influence how much dealers make.
The chart below illustrates how wages can scale dramatically.
What Influences a Dealer’s Pay? – Key Takeaways
Dealers typically receive two types of pay: their tips (the majority of their income) and a base pay or hourly wage. Here are some factors to consider when calculating how much a dealer makes.
- Tier System Matters: High-tier casinos have wealthier clients, which means dealers can earn $18 to $50 per hour in tips, leading to annual earnings of up to $100,000. Meanwhile, at medium and low-tier casinos, tips range from $9 to $18 per hour.
- Event Days Can Boost Pay: Special events or holidays, such as boxing matches or New Year’s Eve, can drastically increase a dealer’s tips. For example, during the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, some dealers made up to $1,500 in a single shift.
- Geography and Casino Size: Dealers in popular gaming hubs like Las Vegas or high-end casinos in other US cities generally earn significantly more in tips than those working in smaller or local casinos.
How Are Dealers Paid in USA?
In my experience, dealers in America are paid through one of several methods: Keep Your Own, Envelope, Check, or Direct Deposit. How you receive your tips can make a big difference in how much you take home and when.
Here’s the breakdown.
- Keep Your Own: Dealers keep their own tips and must report them to the IRS. Poker dealers are a good example of this.
- Envelope: Dealers receive cash in an envelope, often for the previous day’s work. Must repost to the IRS.
- Check: Tips are included in the dealer’s paycheck, with taxes already deducted.
- Direct Deposit: The dealer’s net pay, including tokes, is deposited directly into their bank account—this is becoming more common.
Insider Insight: Most dealers in the US receive their base pay and tips through bi-weekly paychecks, with taxes already deducted. However, this isn’t the case everywhere.
For example, in Las Vegas, temporary dealers hired through agencies are paid differently—they receive their base pay every two weeks from the agency but must collect their tips separately from the casinos they worked at.
As the industry evolves, more casinos are shifting to using Direct Deposit, making payments more streamlined for employees.
What Is a “Toke” and Why Does It Matter?
“Toke” is a term used by casino dealers in Las Vegas that essentially means the same as “tip.”
It’s short for “Token of Gratitude,” a phrase that has evolved over time. While “toke” is common in Vegas, many other places, including the UK, stick with the term “tip.”
The way tokes are given and distributed can significantly impact a dealer’s take-home pay, and it’s the primary source of income for most dealers.
How Much Do Casino Dealers Make in Tips?
Determining how much a dealer makes in tips can be tricky, as it varies from casino to casino and fluctuates daily. Plus, the dealers and the casinos like to keep these numbers secret, so typically there are no public records of what the dealer’s bring home pay is.
However, a clear tier system exists across the casino industry.
High-end casinos attract wealthier clientele, resulting in higher tip averages, while lower-end casinos see less affluent players, leading to lower tips for dealers. Here’s a snapshot of each tier and how it impacts tipping. I will use casinos in Las Vegas as an example.
High-Tier Casinos
Dealers in high-end casinos can make between $70,000 to $100,000 annually. On weekdays, they typically earn $150 to $250 per day in tips, while on weekends, those amounts rise to $200 to $400.
This translates to $18 to $31 per hour on weekdays and $25 to $50 per hour on weekends. Meaning that in tokes alone, high-tier casinos in America range from $18 to $50 per hour.
Examples of High-Tier Tips
- During the Pacquiao-Mayweather boxing event in 2015, dealers at the Aria earned $1,500 in just 8 hours.
- On New Year’s Eve in 2007, dealers at the Bellagio earned $1,396 in tips.
- During the 2007 Super Bowl weekend, dealers at Caesars Palace earned between $351 and $582 per day.
Even in other regions, such as Louisiana, dealers at L’Auberge Casino earn between $23 to $35 per hour, with poker dealers sometimes making up to $55 per hour.
Medium-Tier Casinos
Dealers in medium-tier casinos earn between $30,000 to $65,000 annually. On weekdays, they bring in around $75 to $100 in tips per day, while weekends increase those figures to $100 to $150. This equates to $9 to $12 per hour on weekdays and $12 to $18 per hour on weekends.
Meaning that dealers in medium-tier casinos get tips raging from $9 to $18 per hour.
Examples of Medium-Tier Tips
- During the Pacquiao-Mayweather event, dealers at The Cromwell earned between $154 and $258 in tips.
- On New Year’s Eve 2006, dealers at the Flamingo earned $233.
- MGM Grand dealers earned between $361 and $431 per day during Super Bowl weekend in 2015.
Dealers at casinos like River Rock in California or Harrah’s in Biloxi report similar earnings, ranging from $12 to $18 per hour in tips, depending on the day and clientele.
Low-Tier Casinos
Dealers at low-tier casinos, often located downtown or off-strip, earn between $15,000 to $30,000 annually. Their weekday tips range from $20 to $70 per day, while weekends raise their tips to around $70 to $110.
This works out to $2 to $9 per hour on weekdays and $9 to $13 per hour on weekends.
Examples of Low-Tier Tips
- At Gold Coast, a well-known break-in house in Las Vegas, dealers average $100 per day in tips, or about $30,000 per year.
- During the Pacquiao-Mayweather event, dealers at the Stratosphere earned between $56 and $67.
- On New Year’s Day 2015, dealers at the Luxor earned $85 in tips.
In smaller casinos across the US, such as Boomtown in Biloxi, Mississippi, or Emerald Queen Casino in Washington, dealers typically make between $7 to $10 per hour in tips, with base pay varying from $5 to $9 per hour.
Insider Insight: I’ve noticed that casinos can shift between tiers over time due to changes in ownership, management, or dealer performance metrics (such as hands dealt per hour).
A prime example is the Hard Rock, which used to pay its dealers $75,000 to $85,000 annually but dropped to $55,000 to $60,000 after new management took over, pushing it down into a lower tier.
If you would like to see the details of how much dealers are tipped in casinos in Nevada (and around the world), you can view this information in my World Toke Board at VegasAces.
How Casino Dealer Wages Have Changed Over Time
In the past, casino dealers kept their own tips, carrying a personal toke box from table to table.
Dealers who worked peak hours and weekends earned significantly more, leading to fierce competition for those shifts. As a result, some dealers would even share tips with management to secure prime shifts or better table assignments.
In the late 1980s, Steve Wynn revolutionized the tipping system in Las Vegas.
He introduced a pooled toke system where all the tips from the casino floor were collected over a 24-hour period and then evenly distributed among dealers based on the hours they worked.
This system has since become the standard, not only in Las Vegas but in casinos worldwide.
Common Dealer Toke Distribution Methods
Different casinos use various methods to distribute tips, and while pooling has become the norm, there are several ways dealers receive their tokes.
24-hour Split
This is the most common method, especially in Las Vegas. Tips are collected over a 24-hour period (from 4 am to 4 am) and then divided evenly among the dealers based on their working hours.
Weekly Split
Similar to the 24-hour split, but tips are pooled over a week. This system helps ensure that dealers who miss peak shifts or weekends don’t lose out on large tips.
Two-Week Split
Used by some casinos in the US, where tips are collected over two weeks and distributed.
Monthly Split
More common outside of the US, in places like the United Kingdom, Europe, and South Africa, tips are pooled and distributed monthly.
Shift-for-Shift Split
Here, dealers within a specific shift—Graveyard, Day, or Swing—share their tips only with others on that same shift. This can create competition for the Swing shift, which usually sees the highest tip earnings.
Pit-for-Pit Split
Dealers in one pit (or group of tables) share their tips. Some casinos in Las Vegas pool specific pits, such as party pits or themed pits, separately from other pits.
Table Split
Dealers who worked at a specific table during a shift share their tips, dividing them only among those who dealt at that table.
Keep Their Own
In some cases, such as with poker dealers or certain casinos like Las Vegas Hooters, dealers keep the tips they personally earn. This method is no longer common in most large casinos but still exists in some specialized games.
Top-Paying US States for Casino Dealers
Las Vegas is considered the gambling capital of the world, and it is assumed that the highest tokes can be achieved in that city. However, that is not the case. The reality is that several casinos across the US can offer dealer salaries comparable to those in high-tier Las Vegas establishments.
Regulars and high rollers contribute to this as they will typically flock to the casino that is closest to where they live.
As shown in the chart, some of the highest-paying states for gambling dealers are Arizona and Washington, where the annual mean wages reach $66,370 and $61,290, respectively. New York and West Virginia are also among the top-paying states, offering salaries between $54,080 and $55,700.
Insider Insight: Despite its reputation, Nevada doesn’t appear on the list of top-paying states for casino dealers. This is because Nevada casinos employ a large number of dealers, resulting in more evenly distributed wages.
Additionally, with a high volume of entry-level dealers working in smaller casinos, overall wages in Nevada are balanced.
By contrast, in states like Arizona and Washington, there are fewer casinos, which means less saturation in the job market and higher competition for skilled dealers—leading to better pay.
I also think that dealers in states other than Nevada may benefit from less saturated markets and higher average tokes. Gambling regulations and the legal landscape do not affect dealer tokes in these areas.
Regulatory environments are more involved with casino operations rather than how much players tip their dealers.
Employment Distribution
This chart highlights the distribution of gambling dealer employment across the US, showing states like Nevada, California, and Florida as having the highest number of dealers, with between 2,890 and 17,120 people employed.
These states are home to major casino hubs, which drive the demand for a larger workforce. In contrast, states like Idaho and Vermont have fewer than 460 dealers due to smaller or more niche gambling markets.
This employment distribution shows how regions with more casinos tend to employ more dealers, while smaller markets often offer more competitive wages to attract talent.
How Does a Dealer’s Salary Compare to Other Industries?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides wage data for gambling dealers across several industries. These industries include Traveler Accommodation, Gambling Industries, Spectator Sports, Other Personal Services, and Civic and Social Organizations.
According to the BLS, gambling dealers working in Gambling Industries earn an average annual wage of $43,140, while those working in Traveler Accommodation earn slightly less at $38,070.
Although other industries, such as Spectator Sports and Civic and Social Organizations, offer similar pay ranges, gambling dealers often receive tips on top of their base salary, which significantly increases their earnings.
Note: Tips play a significant role in a dealer’s total earnings, often ranging from $25 to $500 per day, depending on the casino, events, and clientele. Trying to compare this system with other industries is very hard.
My Final Thoughts
Casino dealers earn a base wage, often minimum wage, but their primary income comes from tips, known as “tokes.”
High-tier casinos can offer dealers annual earnings ranging from $70,000 to $100,000, while medium and low-tier casinos offer lower but still competitive salaries. Dealers at top casinos can earn between $18 and $50 per hour in tips alone, with exceptional event days bringing in even more.
Despite the variance in earnings across different casinos, being a casino dealer remains a financially viable and fulfilling career, especially for those without a college degree.
The potential for high earnings and the dynamic work environment make it an attractive career option. Overall, this profession offers financial stability and the opportunity to interact with diverse and interesting people.
If you’re intrigued by this profession, check out our guide on how to become a casino dealer—it’s easier than you might think!
