The baseline numbers
Restaurants: 18-20% is standard, 22% at nicer Strip places where service is actually attentive. Many Vegas bills now auto-add an 18% service charge for parties of 6 or more, and some add a 3-5% concession or resort fee line that is not a tip. Read the bill. Bartenders: $1-2 per drink at a casino bar, $2-3 for cocktails. If you are playing a machine and getting comped drinks, tip the cocktail server $1-2 per round or you will wait a long time for the next one.
Housekeeping: $3-5 a night, left daily because different staff clean different days. Bell staff: $2-3 per bag. Valet: $3-5 on return, not on drop-off. Dealers: color up a $5 chip when you leave a table you enjoyed, or place a bet for the dealer occasionally during play.
Etiquette that keeps you out of trouble
Do not touch your cards at a blackjack table if they are dealt face-up, and never touch your chips once a bet is placed and the hand starts. Use hand signals, not words, because the cameras need to see decisions. Phones are fine at the table between hands but not during them. Photos of the pit or other players will get a pit boss over quickly.
Smoking is still legal on most casino floors, which surprises visitors from California. Non-smoking sections exist but are small. Cannabis is legal to buy in Nevada but illegal to consume in any casino, hotel room, or public place, and casinos actively enforce this because their federal gaming licenses are at stake.
Good to know
Questions, answered
Do I tip if a drink is free?
Yes. Comped drinks are the whole reason cocktail servers work the floor. A dollar or two per drink keeps them circling back to you instead of the tipper two machines over.
Is 15% ever acceptable at a restaurant?
Only for genuinely poor service, and even then most locals still leave 18%. Nevada allows a tip credit toward minimum wage, so servers rely on tips more than in some states.
Doing good is the business: every booking through Stay Nevada funds one verified tonne of carbon removal — same room, same price, no markup.
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