John,

It's true that dealers make close to minimum wage in salary. I'm currently making $5.75/hr. That's more than I was making after 5 years at Caesars Palace. That's $2/hr less than a dealer who has been at Caesars for over 30 years. $5.75 is one of the higher salaries on the strip.

Yes, sometimes toke boxes get very full and need two people to carry them. Did you take into account that those tokes are divided between 500 people, or more?

Why pay union dues? Here's the biggest beef for a dealer: Why is it that I make $5.75 an hour when a cocktail waitress, who earns MORE than I do in tips, makes over $11.00 an hour? Why do bartenders make more than me? I could do a cocktail waitress' job or a bartender's job, but they can't do mine! And I have never heard of a cocktail waitress getting fired for making a mistake, but I've seen several dealers get fired for making honest mistakes. What kind of pressure is there in delivering a drink? Is it the same as dealing to a player with over $100,000 in action? The answer is simple - they are in a union, we're not.

I've found that a large percentage of players think that we are union. Most people are very surprised when they find out we're not. I don't think going union would lower are tokes, it doesn't seem to hurt the cocktail waitresses.

Don't get me wrong. I'm anti-union. It hasn't come up at my place and, if it does, I'll vote against it. But I do believe these are VERY VALID points. The casinos have taken advantage of dealers all along. But I knew going into that my money would come from the players and not the casino, so I deal with it. Pun intended!

Tyrus