According to MGM Resorts International spokeswoman Yvette Monet, all coins and TITO vouchers left with Buddha are donated to the MGM Foundation. From 2002 to 2014 (the latest numbers available), the Foundation has collected $59.5 million. In 2014, it disbursed 81 grants, which went to such causes as after-school programs and community mentoring, as well as to food, housing, and self-sufficiency programs for the indigent. Mental-health counseling has also been underwritten by the Foundation, which has helped 371,293 people overall in its lifetime.
Under a bill passed by the state Legislature in 2011, TITO vouchers unclaimed after three months would be forfeit to the state, thanks to reclassifying them as unclaimed property. Assemblyman William Horne's bill made a small concession to the casinos, allowing them to keep 25 percent of the value of the unclaimed ticket, with the bulk of the money going to the state.
Although MGM wouldn't clarify what loophole enables it to keep all of the TITO monies left with Buddha, we would contend that – by dint of leaving them in that fashion, the player has effectively donated the value of the ticket to the casino. The law says, it is applicable when the casino "owes a patron a specific amount of money as the result of a slot machine wagering voucher which remains unpaid …" (emphasis added). But TITO vouchers left with Buddha are no longer owed by the casino to the patron. As such, they would not be unclaimed property and not subject to NRS 463.369. It's a slender argument but one slim enough to slip through by the language of the law.
As an aside, until the Gaming Control Board began to clamp down on such non-regulation activities, it was not uncommon for casino chips to be left in the collection plates of area churches, in particular the Shrine of the Most Holy Redeemer on Las Vegas Boulevard, which went as far as to have a Franciscan friar who happened to be on staff be in charge of cashing said chips at the relevant casinos, thus earning himself the nickname of the "chip monk" (see QoD 6/5/05). However, now that the rules governing casino chips and their legitimate usage are more strictly enforced, we understand that TITO vouchers and sports betting tickets (we assume winning ones) are more common currency, alongside more regular bills and coinage, in the collection plates of Sin City.
