Bob:

No she's not risking her job. This is an industry custom, and since the exchange takes place basically "off the record" if you will, there is no regulation. The reason for the regulation is, of course, that the Unitied States of America is solely authorized to mint coin and currency, thus representatives of value must be for stringent purposes.

Hypothetically, you are not REQUIRED to extend a gratuity. Most houses have policies against hustling. In theory, you should receive the same service without a gratuity that you would receive with a gratuity. Reality is a different story, but its unofficially fine to tip in chips and tokens because of precedent and custom...I haven't researched the matter but I presume either the Board has never found a problem with this or they did and a court shot it down. In either case, a bartender, cocktail server, or other employee will usually have to deposit the funds (just like a dealer) in a toke box and eventually cash them in at the cage (many houses have toke committees that cut all pooled tips and divide them among the employees in a given classification. A toke committee is a committee of employees selected by the employees in that job class).

Thanks for expressing your interest.