Vol. 3, No. 7, July 2007
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Don't Always Believe...
Media sometimes makes mistakes, confusing readers
On two occasions, one of our local newspapers incorrectly reported that the Nevada Resort Association opposed legislation which would prohibit casinos from engaging in the practice of tip-sharing between dealers and supervisors. After each report the newspaper, at my urging, printed a correction, albeit not with the same visibility as the erroneous story, stating the Nevada Resort Association had not taken a position on the legislation.Needless to say, the incorrect reports concerned me because of the false impression that may have been created among casino workers. To be clear, I am not aware of any of the Nevada Resort Association’s member companies having either the intention or plans to implement a dealer tip-sharing program of any kind. In fact, MGM Mirage Chairman and CEO Terry Lanni made it perfectly clear in an email to the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the company had no intention of implementing such a program.
“While we have stated as much publicly and been quoted in press reports, I want to make the position of MGM Mirage on this topic clear and unequivocal. Dealer tips are their income. The money they earn belongs to them. Our company will not implement any type of tip-sharing program at any of our resorts. This commitment extends to all our casinos and will be policy at CityCenter when it opens in 2009.”
I have the highest respect for all of the news publications and outlets throughout the state and understand the difficult and important job they all do. Each strives for excellence in reporting accurately and efficiently, but sometimes, relevant information falls through the cracks. I commend the newspaper in question here for printing corrections to these stories but, unfortunately, readers who saw the original press accounts may not have seen the corrections.
The Nevada Resort Association protects both the interests of its member companies and the integrity of the industry, which includes making sure that the industry’s most important asset—its employees—receive factually correct information. If casino employees misunderstand the intention of their employers, the industry suffers. We all understand and accept that resort companies are in the business of making money but an idea that is developed in the accounting department may not be the best policy to enact. I think that is what happened with the tip-sharing idea. On paper it looked good but in practice it would be more detrimental to morale and employee/employer relationships than the few dollars it would save any particular company.
The resort industry has a great, long history of management and workers closely collaborating in addressing issues of mutual concern. This relationship is one of the main reasons the industry has done so well in Nevada. And, sometimes, information in the newspaper about this relationship is not accurate.
