Okay, I’m finally rested up after ten wonderful but non-stop days with two always-energetic teenage girls. So, now for the rest of the senior-moment story I started earlier.
First, a response to some of your questions and comments: It was interesting that many other players shared similar experiences, including those who said that they were not seniors. So I guess it is just a problem with being human! Would this $1510 be considered a gambling loss on our tax return? Probably one of those gray areas about which I’d have to check with my tax preparer. But I’m guessing it would be a business loss of some sort on my Schedule C.
Anyway, to continue the story, we left the casino where our $1510 had “disappeared” and went to another casino where I had scheduled us for another playing session, coincidentally on the same game, NSUD’s. We could play this at the $2 level here, and I had dreams of our hitting an 8K royal that would erase the pain of the earlier mental slipup. It was not to be. Not only no 8K, but no 2K deuce jackpot either. Just another loss to add to the earlier one. (Actually the earlier session had seen an $810 loss even if we hadn’t lost the $1510. That 4-deuce thousand near the end of our session had lessened our loss but hadn’t got us out of the hole!)
We went home that Friday night, not giddy with joy – it is never as much fun to lose as it is to win – but not upset either. After 28 years of casino gambling, we are used to the roller-coaster ride. And perhaps the person who cashed the ticket desperately needed the money so we could just count it as a charitable act. A busy weekend followed and put this incident way back in our minds.
Come the following Monday morning we received a surprising call from a casino executive who had been on duty Friday night, and he had an interesting story to tell us.
Casino computers have the capability to track the path of every ticket. Actually before we left the casino on that Friday night we knew that someone had punched out our $1510 ticket just a couple minutes after we had left the machine, and a couple minutes later had cashed it in at a kiosk near the front door. It surprised us that this was possible since many casinos have a limit for such kiosks, often no more than $800 or at least no more than $1199. However, at this casino you could cash out at the kiosk for up to $3000.
After we left, this executive, who had been notified about our loss, viewed the security tape from the camera trained on the cash-out kiosk and recognized the woman who cashed in our $1510 ticket. And then he played a neat little trick on this well-known customer and gave her a call at her home. She had been in a tournament earlier that evening so he told her that she won a prize and she could come in and get it. She rushed right back to the casino and he directed her to follow him into an “office,” which happened to be a lock-up room for probable wrongdoers. There she was met by a gaming agent who had been called in, and she was given an explanation of the Nevada law on felony theft.
The laws governing “abandoned property” and “finders-keepers” vary from state to state, but in Nevada the law says that money (cash, tickets, chips) that you “find” in a casino belongs to the casino and you can be charged with felony theft if you take it. Although the casino usually does not prosecute in cases with small amounts (although you might get hassled by security), this was large enough to get their attention. They asked us if we wanted to prosecute, but we declined that option. It is not like she broke into our house or car with the intention of stealing something from us. After all down through the years we have found chips, bills, and coins on a casino floor and not seeing a possible owner nearby just pocketed them. And back in the olden days, we all found silver coins in silver machine trays and considered them our bonus. We could understand the temptation, and we were sure she had no idea that what she did was against the law, although she probably knew it would have been the ethical thing to turn it into security and see if someone claimed it.
However, the casino was not going to let this go, but they did give her a choice – pay back the money (which she had already spent) or face charges. She found a way to get the money by the following Monday and the phone call was telling us we could come in and get our $1510.
It was a happy ending – and a valuable lesson. I’ve been double-checking things now every time I leave a machine!
A few years ago, I was staying at a Laughlin casino and was playing VP a couple of machines away from a very elderly gentleman. I hit a royal which made him come over and take a look while I was waiting for the hand pay. After warmly congratulating me, he walked away. The handpay was taking time so I decided to go and play on the machine next to the one the gent was playing which is when I noticed he had not cashed out his $900+ credits.
I looked around the sparsely crowded floor (it was very early in the morning) and saw no sign of him. I cashed out his credits and when the attendant finally came back with her supervisor for my hand pay and to give me my 1042 form, I gave them the ticket and told them about the forgetful customer and they immediately took the machine’s number on which he was playing and said that they would be able to trace him provided he had his player’s card in the machine. If he didn’t, they said I might have a claim on the money. They asked me if I had a host and as I did I gave them her name.
I didn’t think anything about it until later that day when I returned to my room to see a message waiting for me. It was my host informing me that the gentleman had been found and was overjoyed that his money had been recovered as it wasn’t until he was going to the parking lot that he realized he had not cashed out. To thank me he asked the hotel how he could find out what wine I liked so that he could send me some. He was put in touch with my host who knew what I liked from the dinners she had comped me for in the past.
Jean,
Had an incident at Biloxi. I put a ticket in a machine and then decided not to play it after looking at the payback table. It printed me a partial ticket for the change only. When I went to put it in another machine realized the error. I am used to having a partial ticked printed as soon as I put a ticket in, but not printing 2 when I cash out. The casino personnel said someone had cashed it out, but got out of the casino before they could stop him. I should have looked at the amount of course, but this unusual way of printing out partial tickets and then the main one was a total new wrinkle to me. Will always look at the ticket now.
Jean, glad you were able to get the money returned. Can the casino void the ticket if it isn’t cashed before the casino is notified of your loss? Say the person left with the ticket planning to cash it a few days later. Would the casino have been able to flag that ticket so it couldn’t be cashed?
I’m glad you got your money back. Did I miss it, or did you intentionally omit the name of the casino? Do you think that lady will be allowed back in that casino, or if a gaming agent was there, do you think they’ll ban or from other casinos?
I had a similar story a number of years ago in Harrahs AC. We left the ticket and came back a minute or two later and the woman sitting there who had been at the next machine said there was no money in the machine and we left to report it to security. We came back 5 or 10 minutes later and of course the woman was gone. We left our information and got a call later that night to come and claim our money. It turns out the woman used here Harrahs card and they called her home, where her husband answered. She was not home in Delaware and he did not know she had gone to the casino. He did not also know that she had been there with another a guy. Maybe it was her brother. He called her and she called the casino. A similar conversation as in the back room occurred. She turned around and dropped the money off. I guess she was not as smart as she thought. In this case we probably would have prosecuted as she had the opportunity to give us our money back up front and planned on stealing it.
So glad you had a happy ending!!!! Interestingly this happened to my wife and I, but we were the ones who found the ticket. We were getting ready to leave Harrah’s Kansas City and I noticed that the bank of DDB progressive was up to $1700 on the Quarter machines. We decided to run $20 through the game just for kicks. As I sat down I saw that some had hit Aces and cased out for over $800 and low and behold the ticket was laying on the machine. My wife and I decided to wait and surely someone would be back to look for it. Sure enough about five minutes later a young lady with tears in her eyes came back. I held out the ticket and asked nicely, “You wouldn’t be looking for this would you?” She broke down and cried a bit and asked us if she could give us some cash in return. We declined and told her to have a great evening.
I am so glad you got your money back! I have certain routines that I follow so I don’t screw up. One of my routines is that I always cash out my ticket and put it in my wallet before I pull my player card from the machine. I also glance at the machine as I am walking away as a double check. As I get older, I have more memory tricks that I use.
I am going to be a little contrary here – and say that it is too bad you did not press charges. There is a big difference in finding some loose coins in a machine and printing-and-redeeming a ticket for $1,199. She was a tournament-level customer so I doubt she needed the money to feed her children or keep herself warm (or cool). Yes, prosecuting someone is a huge hassle – but someone should have checked to see if she had a record (or at least some past incidences at this or other casinos).
Always read your blogs. Just love to hear about you and Brad and the rest of the family. After happily reading about the return of your $1510, I have a couple of \curiosity\ thoughts. You stated that the security guard recognized the woman(a \well-known customer\), and then you generously say that you are sure she had no idea that she broke the law. Casinos have so many people coming through on a daily basis that, if the security guards recognize them they must be there a lot, and/or act in such a manner that they get security’s attention. Seems like such a person would probably be aware that they are breaking the law. Even if they weren’t breaking the law, it just isn’t the honest thing to do. Hopefully she’s learned a lesson on values, if nothing else.
I’m not a senior either, but I’ve had some memory loss due to longterm lipitor usage.
What a great story! I’m so glad you got your money back ~ and the good thing is that woman who took it will think twice about taking someone else’s ticket in the future (hopefully, anyway!)
Wow, a happy ending for you and Brad, not so much for the lady that “found” the ticket. My wife and I are heading to Vegas August 9-13, so I have to make sure not to leave any tickets in the machines, or my wife will kill me. 😉
Yes, I have found small amounts of money in casinos over the years and kept them, but I cannot imagine finding $1,500 in a machine and just keeping it. She was obviously ignorant of the technology that would allow the casino to find out who had cashed the ticket. And she had no morals, besides. I’m glad the casino caught her and made her pay it back. It was very generous of you not to press charges.