A little tip for winning gamblers

My wife is a dealer, so I felt that the Sunday article by Nicole Raz on tipping (“For Vegas, there is a tipping point”) was very insightful. Gamblers need to understand that these dealers are paid only minimum wage to stand there for eight-hour shifts.

My wife can understand that when customers lose they are not inclined to tip. But when the customer is a winner, she is very grateful for a tip — which all of the dealers pool. The other day, she had a customer win more than $25,000. Her tip: nothing. And these people are not necessarily foreigners. Many, many locals come into the casino then play, win and leave the table without tipping.

I think I have a solution. The casinos should put up signs around the tables and games that say, “Dealers earn their income from tips. Please remember that.” It would be nice to post these signs in some of the more popular languages.

Thomas M Mattingly

Las Vegas

No Reid fan

For the last couple of days, the Review-Journal has included several articles about Sen. Harry Reid and how he did great things for this state. What I found missing was any discussion about how a civil servant on a salary that never exceeded $225,000 could amass a fortune of more than $10 million during his lifetime. Maybe he had the same commodities broker that Hillary Clinton had.

Mr. Reid was an arrogant politician who would often go to the well of the Senate floor where he was immune from any legal action and spew hatred and lies about other people. He was an obstructionist who refused to allow Republicans to have any input in the Affordable Care Act and most other bills that he put forth. He was a divider and water boy for President Obama and more interested in the Democrat Party than what was good for America.

Remember how he said Mitt Romney never paid his taxes and then years later admitted he lied about it, justifying it by saying Mr. Romney didn’t win?

Mr. Reid is the poster boy for why we should have term limits at the federal level.

Michael O. Kreps

Las Vegas

Terror and grief

In his Saturday letter, “All done,” I think Rick Ainsworth is mistaking “whining and weeping” with sheer grief and terror at the result of the election. America is and has been a great country. Our terror and grief come because an unqualified and inappropriate person has been granted the presidency though the majority of voters did not wish it to be so. And everything that has transpired since the election confirms the legitimacy of our terror and grief.

Carol Kerner

Las Vegas

Driven mad

In response to your Dec. 21 story on rising auto insurance rates:

I also have experienced the sting of ever-rising car insurance rates in Southern Nevada. I cannot understand it. As a retiree in the northwest, I have watched the insurance company increase my rates by 5 percent or 10 percent every term. I have not had an accident or ticket since I was a kid.

When I make an inquiry to the company, I get, “Well, you know, Vegas is a 24-hour town, and there is a lot of risk and drunken driving going on.” My reply is, “I know this. But I am a retired person who drives maybe 3,000 miles a year, lives miles away from the Strip, and has no desire to go anywhere near the Strip.”

Based on Nevada’s approval of recreational marijuana, I expect the insurance companies to arbitrarily raise premiums again. But what can I do? How can persons younger than I who drive their vehicles daily to work even afford these high premiums?

Dave Foreman

North Las Vegas