Question of the Day - 12 October 2022

I don’t play slots, but my wife recently came home from a trip to Washington where she gave me her leftover TITO from MGM Harbor valued at 11¢. 

Knowing there are online discussions about finding abandoned tickets, I looked closely at it. 

The first line of the fine print was, “This is a bearer instrument.”

So I created a thread to discuss it on the Wizard’s forum:
https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/off-topic/general/36700-tito-is-a-bearer-instrument/

I once lost a $100+ ticket on an older machine at the Fremont.   I was in a hurry and I while gathering my other belongings, cigs, lighter, players card, coffee, etc.  I forgot to grab the ticket out of the machine (it was one of those very old slant tops where the ticket ejected into the coin bucket).  Within 5 minutes I realized my mistake, and I found a slot attendant who looked up the ticket and said that someone had inserted it into another machine.   That was the end of it.  They didn't do a thing to help me recover my money.  Expensive mistake.

It seems to me that the casinos and good old Battle Born are the real thieves. 
In another QOD wasn't it said those penny TITO tickets amounted in the millions?

In our days now of TAP credit cards, why don't Players Clubs use TAP players cards so a player card is never left behind in a machine and the name on that card and it's number gets printed on the TITO.

Wait, I know why not, then the casinos and the State couldn't rob all of the casino patrons any more.

Governments make a law and then break the law they just made so they can profit instead.

And the real problem with all of this is that the collective "You" voted for those thieves.

Knowledge is power and that power selects better candidates and not a Party.

If the player card isn't inserted in the machine the casino isn't going to know when that player quits and a new player shows up (without a card) and starts playing.  Pulling the card marks the end of your session.

Not long ago I played a short time at a slot at Bellagio.  It wasn't paying so friend and I got up and walked to another area.  It was about 15 minutes that I realized I hadn't cashed out the $80 or so that was still remaining.  I figured it would be gone, but got up and walked back to see.  As I walked up, a uniformed Bel employee approached me and asked "did you lose something?" Or something like that.  She knew all about it, had pulled the ticket and secured it somewhere, radioed somebody who brought it to us.  I don't even recall her asking for my card or ID or anything.  Whether surveillance or other system, or combo thereof caught me, the player, leaving money behind in the machine, but I was grateful they were on it so quickly.

Candy

At the end of the Vegas Vacation documentary.
Chevy Chase relives Sid Caesar of his winning Keno ticket and everyone drives home in a luxury automobile.

Since we have video proof of this egregious act of theft can we get this nut job charged... I hear he is a A**hole. 

Everything in the Response hung together clearly and consistently except for one thing. If you've been breaking the law by taking tickets or money that isn't yours, we would think that the casino guards would punish you somehow. So how is them showing you a door a punishment? And what kind of door would they carry over to you to show it to you? And why are they showing you a door in the first place? You didn't tell them that you wanted to buy one, like a woman being shown a dress at a luxury department store? The whole idea seems puzzling and pointless.

That's an excellent point. When I read Jackie's comment, I thought what a great idea. I'm mad at myself for not thinking of the scheme's obvious fatal flaw that you identified.

If it's considered theft and the amount is high like $100 why wouldn't the police be called? This happened to me at Sunset Station. the person I told got on the phone with Security and they watched the person cash out my $, cash out the ticket and leave the casino. Why wouldn't a police report be filed? Because this happens too often for them to be bothered? It kinda sucks that they broke the law and nobody seemed to care. 

If a TAP card is not near a reader, it's the same as a card not inserted.

Let's say you wave your TAP card at a slot and then stuck it back in your wallet, the slot now thinks you left as it is no longer near the reader.

If the Tap card was worn akin to a necklace then it would always be near the reader.
Then when you got up and left you would no longer be near the reader.

If your TAP Credit Card was in your wallet at a cashier you don't get charged but when you pull it out and show it near their reader money disappears from your account.

GET IT?

Only Jackie could turn a simple TITO question into a crazy political rant.  

If any amount is considered theft, then the casinos better assign cleaning crews to the TITO ATM's where people throw away their coins worth of vouchers. I always see a few left on top of the machines or on the floor. I will consider that entrapment by the casino! :D

What's the problem vegasvic, the crew you seem to favor that is running our nation off the cliff in so many areas from crime, border, inflation, crime, interest rates soaring getting you a little uptight? As for TITO itself, well, it is most interesting that if someone uses a voucher of various amounts that isn't theirs left lying around can have penalties ranging from getting arrested, 86'd, it's against the law, yet we have lots of your party buddies wanting to defund the police and abolish bail in so many places and let the serious criminals run free these days? See how Jackie's "rant" can have some interesting applications in how warped our nation is becoming thanks to your buddies? Where's the liberal outrage for fair TITO 'reform', vegasvic? If it works so darn well for serious violent criminals, well, let's do it at the highly dangerous TITO using level. So come on vegasvic, get with the program! 

In order for this to be charged as theft, they would have to prove that the previous player's decision to leave the ticket on the slot machine or near the TITO redemption machine did not intend to give it as a gift to whomever found it. If the player who left it meant to give it as a gift, then the person who picks it up has legal title and can redeem it as they see fit.

I'm willing to bet that no one with competent counsel has ever been successfully prosecuted for cashing out (or using) a TITO that was left by another player.

Yes, it might get you 86ed, but I'm also willing to bet that the probability of that happening is in direct proportion to how much the person in question looks like someone the casino doesn't want on its premises anyway.

Whenever a slot attendant fixes a problem, on my machine or nearby, and there's a blank cashout ticket left behind, I always put it under a barstool leg.

Amazing how that draws people, and all the antics that they do ... hovering, pacing, etc. waiting for some magic moment when they can grab that ticket.

No passerby has ever alerted me, anytime, about any of those tickets.

Your scheme as described won't work for a variety of technical reasons. 

Additionally, player's club cards with RFID chips could be read from some distance (as opposed to NFC payment cards that have to be placed within an inch or less from a reader) would present a Pandora's box of privacy invasion issues.

It's better to acknowledge a mistake and just suffer at most a small loss of face since everybody makes mistakes rather than digging a deeper hole for yourself.

I work on the strip.  At lunch the other day, I walked through Excalibur and saw a $1 Top Dollar machine that had zero credits in it, but the person had hit a bonus and apparently left.  I could have played the bonus and cashed out.  I founD a slot rep and pointed it out, she ran the 1st offer bonus and cashed out a $60 ticket.

Knowing what I know of casino operations, I could have easily taken the money, and nobody would have been the wiser.  But a) it's wrong, b)it's illegal, and c) on the extremely rare chance somebody would have noticed, it wasn't worth the hassle.

If the chip can be read from a distance of hanging around your neck the reader is also going to pick up the other cards for other casinos hanging on your lanyard, plus possibly the cards in your purse/wallet.  It would also require constantly scanning from the machine vs just when the NFC reader detects something close by.  It just isn’t practical to implement with current technology that is out there.  Maybe with retinal scanners, no thanks…

I forgot or dropped a $500+ ticket--see Qod about overserving--I realized it was missing, found a security person, asked about my ticket--he stuck his finger in his ear and whispered into his cuff just like in the movies--told me to wait--in 2 minutes a slot attendant came from the cage and gave me my ticket--no questions asked