Question of the Day - 18 March 2017

Caesars Entertainment’s official policy is that hosts are not permitted to accept cash. We called the host offices at Caesars, Flamingo, Planet Hollywood, and Harrah’s and they all confirmed the policy.

We were a little surprised to read in this question that you give your host an envelope out in the open. Perhaps your host figures that the envelope is a good enough disguise or that the likelihood of being seen by a boss or surveillance is slim enough to take the chance.

The reason we say "out in the open" is that we know high rollers who toke hosts in cash and we know hosts who accept cash tokes, but it’s almost always done secretly.

One high-roller friend told us, "I tip my hosts with money all over the place, albeit behind closed doors, and almost never have it refused."

When another hit a mid-six-figure jackpot, she tipped herhost "huge" and said it was "expected."

Another said, "Only once did a host say she couldn’t take the $100 bill I gave her; she said the limit was $50. So I put $50 in an envelope and my wife put $50 in an envelope and gave them to her separately."

So, policies do differ, though in the QoD answer this question came out of, we stated, "Some states have specific regulations that govern this and if there's a no-tip rule, it's strictly enforced by the casino. In Nevada, it's left to the casinos to determine the tip/gift policies for hosts.

"At some casinos, hosts aren't allowed to take any gifts at all; it's a strict rule and hosts can be fired if they violate it. Other casinos forbid their hosts from taking cash gifts, a policy that avoids the problem, at least partially, of hosts being bribed for comps."

Caesars is in the latter category, but another factor when tipping is involved has to do with the culture in different countries. In some places, someone offered a cash tip might be insulted, while in others, it’s insulting to refuse one. In that case, hosts are expected to accept the gift, then hand it over to bosses. Some casinos donate it to charity; at others, there’s no telling what happens to it.

"The solution to the question/problem of getting a tip to a host without anybody getting into trouble is to do it anonymously, with or without enabling them to know or figure out from whom the tip is coming. And the way to avoid the specific problems of a tip being cash (theft, as well as the chance of it being against policy, or illegal) is to give a money order, or a gift card to a store that anybody can easily use, such as Target. "There are situations in which you know or can expect a certain person to turn down a gift from you, and that's when you'd simply make a totally anonymous gift. But with casino hosts in America, they usually would accept a gift from you, so long as it's done in a way that doesn't get them into hot water. And in this situation, you DO want them to somehow know that the gift came from you (for obvious reasons). So, with a wink of the eye, you tell your host, "Just so you know, I'm your cousin, Bob Jones." Then you either mail the money order or gift card to the host (with "Bob Jones" printed either on the money order as the sender, or in a brief note stuck to the gift card), or else you cleverly hide the money order or gift card inside some other object (like a candy bar) and have someone other than you (such as a friend who doesn't frequent the casino) hand-deliver it to the host, with the instruction to open it in private. The host will get her tip, and no one will be the wiser."