La. Admin. Code tit. 42 § III-2721

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024

Section III-2721 - Internal Controls; Tips or Gratuities

A. All gaming employees shall convert cash tips or gratuities from a patron to value chips except for slot gaming employees, change persons, cashiers, and bar tenders who may accept cash as a tip or gratuity from a patron. Security personnel may accept cash tips or gratuities outside the designated gaming areas of the casino.

B. No key gaming employee or any other gaming employee who serves in a supervisory position as outlined in the internal controls, shall accept a tip or gratuity on behalf of themselves. However an employee serving in a supervisory position may handle, transport and temporarily possess a tip on behalf of an eligible employee in accordance with the licensees internal controls.

C. No employee shall solicit a tip or gratuity.

D. All tips and gratuities given to dealers at table games, including poker dealers, shall be handled as described in the licensees internal controls. Those controls should use one of the following methods.

1. Pooling of tips:

a. immediately deposited in a transparent locked box reserved for that purpose. If non-value chips are received at a roulette table, the marker button indicating their specific value shall not be removed from the slot or receptacle attached to the outer rim of the roulette wheel until after a dealer in the presence of a supervisor has converted the non-value chips into value chips. Procedures for accepting non-value chips received as tips shall be defined in the internal controls;

b. counted and recorded by a randomly selected dealer and a randomly selected employee who is independent of the tips being counted; and

c. placed in a pool for pro rata distribution among the dealers on a basis that coincides with the normal pay period. Tips or gratuities from this pool shall be deposited into the licensee's or casino operators payroll account. Distributions to dealers from this pool shall be made in accordance with the payroll accounting practices and shall be subject to all applicable state and federal withholding taxes.

2. A licensee or casino operator may elect to handle tips generated by dealers separately from the pro rata distribution pool. Tips or gratuities may be assigned to the dealer generating the tip or gratuity, and the following procedures shall be used.

a. Each dealer shall have a locked transparent box marked with his name or otherwise coded for identification. Keys to these boxes shall be maintained by the cage department. When not in use, these boxes shall be stored in a locked storage cabinet or other approved lockable storage in the poker room. Keys to the storage cabinet shall be maintained and used as specified in the internal controls.

b. When a dealer arrives at his assigned table, the dealer shall obtain his marked transparent locked box. The box shall be placed at the table. If the dealer leaves the table, the dealer's marked box shall be removed from the table by the dealer and secured.

c. At the end of the dealer's shift, the dealer shall take that dealer's marked transparent locked box to the cage for counting. The cage employee shall unlock, empty, and relock the box. The cage employee shall count the contents of the box in the presence of the dealer. The amount shall be recorded on a three-part voucher and signed by the cage employee and the dealer. The three parts of the voucher shall be distributed as follows:

i. one part shall be given to the dealer;

ii. one part shall be maintained by the cage; and

iii. one part shall be forwarded to the payroll department.

d. Tips or gratuities shall be deposited into the licensee's or casino operators payroll account. Distribution to the dealer shall be made in accordance with the payroll accounting practices and shall be subject to all applicable state and federal withholding taxes and regulations. No distributions shall be made to the dealer in any other manner.

e. A poker room dealer may tip any cashier working as the poker room cashier during the poker room dealer's shift. Any such tip shall be handled when the poker room dealer's tips are counted as defined in this Section. A section of the dealer's tip voucher shall be marked to allow the dealer to indicate which cashier(s) the dealer wishes to tip and the amount. The tip shall be deducted from the dealer's total tips at the time of the count. Tips given to a cashier in this manner shall be distributed to the cashier in accordance with the payroll accounting practices and shall be subject to all applicable state and federal withholding taxes and regulations. No tips from a poker room dealer shall be made to a cashier in any other manner.

E. Upon receipt from a patron of a tip or gratuity, a dealer assigned to the gaming table shall extend his arm in an overt motion and deposit such tip or gratuity in the transparent locked box reserved for such purpose.

F. All tips received by employees not covered in Subsection D of this Section shall be deposited into the licensee's or casino operators payroll account and distributed to employees in accordance with the internal controls. Distributions to employees from this pool shall be made following the payroll accounting practices and shall be subject to all applicable state and federal withholding taxes.

La. Admin. Code tit. 42, § III-2721

Promulgated by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Gaming Control Board, LR 38:1640 (July 2012), Amended by LR 41:1495 (8/1/2015).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 27:15 and 24.