Poker Prof's Poker Blog sponsor, Paradise Poker.
The world's first online poker room and your best bet, Paradise Poker.
The Wynn Las Vegas Resort recently decided to change a long standing Las Vegas custom of dealers pooling and sharing tips. Dealers at the upscale resort average making more than $100K annually while their supervisors make about $40K less per year. Management at the Wynn Resort came up with a clever solution to even out the disparity between the upside down wages that is sure to please the accountants, stockholders and executive management. Best of all it doesn't cost the Wynn a single dime from the bottom line. They decided the Wynn entry level supervisors (read dealer's bosses) would also share the dealers tip pool money. Seems the only people that don't agree with the new arrangements are the 500 or so Wynn dealers that have suffered a $20K per year pay cut.
Wynn management was apparently counting on the fact that their dealers are the highest paid in the state and although they would grumble and complain about the pay change they would stay on the job. Of course, Wynn management was exactly right and few have quit in the three weeks the new policy has been in effect.
More than 100 Wynn Las Vegas dealers filed a complaint with the Nevada Labor Commission and on September 13 the complaint was rejected by Labor Commissioner Michael Tanchek after a review concluded that the Wynn Las Vegas had not violated any Nevada laws. That same day two Wynn dealers filed a class action lawsuit in District Court in Las Vegas charging the Wynn Las Vegas with breach of employment contracts by unilaterally, illegally and without cause withholding the dealer's tip money for distribution to other casino employees that were not casino dealers and therefore not entitled to the shared money.
In a related news story, Steve Wynn was named to the 107th spot on the Forbes list of the 400 richest people in America with personal wealth of $2,600,000,000 or $2.6 billion. Perhaps the dealers at his property could arrange loans in case they can't meet their mortgage payments and other financial obligations due to the unexpected pay cuts.
