Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia has been accused of short-changing hundreds of table games dealers by paying them below minimum wage during mandatory breaks when they were prevented from earning tips.
In a proposed class-action lawsuit filed Monday (Nov. 9) in Pennsylvania federal court, dealer Jannies Lan claims the casino systematically violated state and federal wage laws through its scheduling practices, tip-pooling arrangements, and failure to properly inform employees about their pay.
The lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal challenges to casino dealer pay practices. Seven Atlantic City casinos were hit with similar lawsuits in March, followed by Ocean Casino Resort in April, where a dealer raised almost identical allegations about mandatory breaks and the use of pooled tips to cover administrative costs.
The Philadelphia and Ocean lawsuits were brought by the same three law firms, suggesting a coordinated effort to challenge how casinos compensate their dealers.
No Tips During Breaks
According to the new complaint, blackjack, roulette, and other table games dealers typically work 80-minute stretches followed by mandatory 20-minute breaks away from the casino floor.
Craps dealers, whose jobs require more complicated calculations, work 60-minute stretches before taking the same breaks.
During these periods, employees cannot deal games, earn tips directly from customers, or leave the casino premises, the lawsuit claims. However, they remain on the clock and can be called back to work at management’s discretion.
The complaint argues that this means ordinary dealers spend at least 20% of their working hours unable to earn tips, rising to 25% for craps dealers.
Despite this, Live! allegedly pays them at the reduced hourly rate permitted for tipped workers.
“The time is not the dealer’s own time,” the complaint states, arguing that the compulsory breaks primarily benefit the casino by keeping dealers mentally sharp and reducing costly mistakes.
Under Pennsylvania law, employers face restrictions on applying tip credits to time spent performing work that does not generate tips.
Tips Used to Cover Expenses
Lan, who joined Live! in July 2021, also alleges that the casino improperly used pooled dealer tips to cover its own administrative expenses.
According to the lawsuit, up to five dealers receive approximately $25 apiece each night to count and redistribute tips collected from gaming tables.
Rather than paying these workers itself, the casino allegedly deducts the money from the collective tip pool.
The complaint argues that counting tips is a necessary business expense and that funding the activity through workers’ tips violates wage laws.
Lan further claims the casino failed to provide legally required information explaining its use of the tip-credit system.
She cites two weeks in January 2024 when she received a base wage of $7 per hour, below Pennsylvania’s $7.25 minimum wage. Such payments can be lawful when employers satisfy tip-credit requirements, which the lawsuit alleges Live! failed to do.
The action seeks unpaid minimum wages, overtime, allegedly misappropriated tips, damages, and legal costs on behalf of potentially hundreds of current and former workers.
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