"Paula Cifelli and her husband, Joe, are both dealers at Atlantic City casinos, and they're experiencing the effects of the worsening economy.

Most of their income comes from tips, and as money gets tighter, so do gamblers. That is forcing the couple to tighten their own belts.

"We've given up our minivan and taken our kids out of swim lessons," said Joe Cifelli, a dealer at Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino.

"We're trying to survive on dealer pay, and we're having a really hard time," added his wife, who works at Caesars Atlantic City.

The Cifelli's are among hundreds of dealers from Atlantic City and around the nation who are expected to attend a large rally today in support of newly unionized casino workers, who have thus far gotten nowhere in talks with the gambling halls on what would be the resort's first union contract for dealers."

This is an example of what is happening in Atlantic City and others. Basically, as the economy deteriorates staff begin losing tips. Has anyone noticed that customers are tipping less or regulars stopped tipping? Is the credit crunch to blame?

Economic crisis hit all the business quite hard and casino industry is no exeption. Though we still have our sustomers coming through the door, they definatelly play less and tip less. What a shame! English casinos just started introducing tips and here is it - crisis..... Bad luck.:(

I absolutely agree with you. Where I have been working in Russia we even had to share tips with pit bosses and managers and their salary's where much better then dealer's ones. I suppose the worst situation is in the countries where dealers are not allowed accepting tips and all of it goes to waitresses and barmen. Like in England, for example. Luckily the situation there is changing and hopefully soon table staff will have decent income. So, in this case accepting tips will be a great change, because no one will be able to low the minimum salary :)

Unfortunately tips are a gratuity and shouldn't be included in the salary package or added to the bottom line. Your salary should be enough for you to live on; it seems that tips are expected in your part of the world and your employers use them to top up bad salary packages.

A campaign which encourages people to ask this very question 'Who gets the tip?' has been launched.

There are some 165,000 businesses in the hospitality, leisure and service sectors where tipping is common and these include restaurants, bars, hotels, casinos and taxis, among other places. But nearly two-thirds of adults who leave a tip don't know where their money goes.

This campaign encourages businesses to provide customers with clear information on how their tips are distributed, and give consumers advice when making a decision on whether and how to tip.

The government introduced a change to the law six months ago, stopping employers from using tips to make up an employee's national minimum wage.

Industry reps, consumer groups and unions want businesses to show how their tips are distributed by clearly displaying information, for example within menus or on tipping trays.

Sounds like a great idea to make it all clear for consumers, including casino customers.

Where was it launched? What country?

UK