For this answer, we turned to our favorite casino executive, Arnie Rothstein (not his real name and no picture to protect his anonymity). Arnie responds:
Excellent question.
First, a little backgound from the casino's perspective on our new best friend TITO. No, that's not the liberator of Yugoslavia. It's the ticket-in ticket-out system.
The casinos make their profit on the long curve (the longer you play games where they have the edge, the more money they make). They also learn their lessons on the long curve. For example, by switching their slots to the TITO system, casinos no longer need to pay people to sell the coins, collect the coins, count the coins, roll the coins, bag the coins, and deliver the coins. They don't need employees to clear hopper jams. And they don't have to watch stagnant, down, non-profit-making machines that are waiting for a fill.
On the same side of the profit equation, the casinos receive an unexpected windfall, thanks to players who lose their tickets, forget about them, put them through the wash, or fail to turn them in for cash before they expire. There are also those players who cash out tickets for a few pennies or even a few dollars and don't bother going to a kiosk or change booth to redeem them.
On the other side, however, as you rightly point out, TITO makes it potentially easier for grab-and-run thieves to punch a button and take off with the ticket. (Not that this was by any means as rare as you indicate in the old bucket-o-coins era, as plenty of surveillance tape will testify; it's just easier now). Of course, this is also just one of myriad scams employed by punks who prey on casino customers. Casinos go to great lengths -- including eye-in-the-sky surveillance technology and agents and uniformed and plainclothes security officers, plus lists of names and databases of photos of known cheats and thieves and scammers -- to try to protect their patrons (and themselves) from victimization.
Now, only in an ideal world can casinos be expected to protect all their customers all the time from all predators (that's the same world where you never lose money in slot machines...).
Still, you can tell if the casino in which you're playing respects its customers and cares about their safety and security by how well lit the casino floor is and how many security guards are walking around it.
You can also do your own part by reporting any suspicious activity or person to the first security guard you see. Security should automatically approach the person and demand identification. It's a law in Nevada that anyone playing in a casino must have a valid ID; that applies if you're 21 or 121. And since most of the punks have active wants and warrants out on them, they usually choose to leave the premises before they can do any harm.
Another thing you can do to feel safer is to play the slots next to the security podium (where a security guard is always posted). The slimeballs tend to stay away from this area.
