On a side trip to Laughlin in April of '95 I stopped on the way back at the Searchlight Nugget Casino for a stretch of the legs and a little BJ. The atmosphere was a little different than back in Vegas - of the two or three blackjack tables, one was open with a 300 lb. dealer dressed in bib overalls! I was playing at this $2 table for a little while and decided to put a $1 toke out for the dealer. That hand won, and he paid the toke, stacked it and left it. The next few hands I also won, and the guy kept stacking it up. The toke was getting to be so much bigger than my bet that I was marginally embarassed. I finally asked him if he was gonna take it and he said he "couldn't unless I pushed it toward him."
I was shocked at this, as I'd never heard of such a practice before, and all of the dealers around the country to whom I've told the story have also expressed surprise at such a practice. The dealer acted like I was supposed to know this, and I wonder if this was a case of a "house rule" that only existed here. Any one heard of such a custom?