Question of the Day - 13 May 2020

I don't think you came down hard enough on the so-called girlfriend, and I can't see why this is tearing the family apart. The money belongs to pops!!! I don't care what the casino says, what the government says, what family members say! Pops said she could play "for him." End of story!

It doesn't matter who puts the money into the machine or who provided the money - any winning spins belong to the person that pressed the button (or pulled the handle). That's why it is foolish for underage persons to play a machine, they can probably get away with keeping smaller winnings that are automatically paid but any jackpots won't be paid to them since id is always checked.

The easiest way to keep things straight is: if you play, you win or lose.  If you give someone else money and don't ask for it back, it's a gift and what they do with it is their business. That said, keeping it all, or not  giving you a gift in return, could be somewhat cheesy on her part, but reasonable if she used the money for a noble purpose. 
However it's important to keep in mind that the value of the gift you gave her was the initial money to bet with, not the jackpot.  It shouldn't matter to you how she spends it. 

We all know that legally the jackpot is the girlfriends, but should she keep it? or keep it all? probably not, but we actually only heard one side of the story. The questioner certainly portrayed their side, and may even have selective memory of the circumstances. If their attitude was "Hey, that's my jackpot!" I'd be hesitant to be that cooperative anyway. Just like someone who just left the machine and then bitches about you "getting my jackpot". I totally agree with zzdoug. There must be an agreement BEFORE the jackpot about the proceeds. Had she "won" $20, $50, or $100, would the questioner objected? We DO need to hear both sides to the story.

The girlfriend is a selfish pig, but for Mom to have the attitude "this is tearing our family apart" shows her bad (and greedy) side as well.  Is the son a momma's boy shrugging his shoulders?  The girlfriend should run for the hills because the mother will always cause misery and the son might be a wimp.  Get over it, Mom.  And, "the goodness of my heart"???  WTH?  What goodness was in your heart if your intention all along was that any hit/jackpot belonged to you, since you told her she could play on your money?  

Wow, lots of nasty misogyny in these comments!

There is no such thing as letting someone play with your money "out of the goodness of your heart." Also, who puts money in two machines and then just plays one?

The questioner gave the girlfriend some money to play with. The girlfriend won. The questioner didn't. Now the questioner wants to recharacterize the transaction as some kind of charitable action where the girlfriend would get to enjoy "playing" but not winning.

The fun in playing a machine is winning, not in pressing the buttons. If you put money in a machine for another person to play and don't say, up front, that you are expecting a share of the winnings. the only reasonable assumption by the other person is that they get to keep what they win. All of it.

The most the girlfriend should feel obligated to do it to pay back the original stake. And I think that asking for that back is still pretty tacky. Expecting anything more in these circumstances is a classless move.

So, its who pushed the button gets the money. So I should just walk around the casino pushing slot buttons on machines with money in them even if I do not know the people playing them? I guess my next casino trip is going to be profitable, confrontational but profitable. 

That's a unique advantage play.

I'm pretty sure DerbyCity123 would get 86ed, permanently, from any casino where he tried that.

Why do any of you believe your opinion is correct? None of us have the full story.  
What was EXACTLY said by the lender?
What, if anything, was said by the girlfriend?
Until we have ALL the FACTS we don't know who is at fault.
We DO know the law - It's her money.
Should she share it?  Who knows.  As Ray said, what was said immediately after the win, by both sides?  We don't have enough information to judge. 
We DO know the law - It's her money.  End of story.
They ALL need to take a deep breathe and grow up.   

The posted responses mention "Pops" and "Mom" but the QOD doesn't indicate which parent made the comment.  And other responses convolute the question or tell the family member to grow up.  Hopefully it isn't the money that is tearing the family up because the problem is much bigger than that.  But regardless of what was said and transpired prior to the win, the girlfriend's decision to keep the money says a lot about her character.  "Do unto others" is just one thing that comes to mind.  Actually it may be the only thing printable.

Good discussion. Here's the way it works among those who do this sort of thing often. It boils down to whether the starting stake was a gift to play or a "play my money for me" arrangement. I've seen both. If it was the former, and no conditions were stated, then the jackpot (morally) belongs to the girlfriend. If you want all or part of a potential win when you stake a player, that needs to be stipulated up front. What the girlfriend did subsequently with the jackpot is a different subject that really isn't relevant to the gambling-deal consideration.

I overreacted with my assessment, and I apologize to the initiator of the QoD for my unkind comments.  Still it is unfortunate that this is "tearing the family apart."  That's what money can do to otherwise reasonable people.  

@Derbycity123 - So, its who pushed the button gets the money. So I should just walk around the casino pushing slot buttons on machines with money in them even if I do not know the people playing them? 
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HaHaHa - that's a good way to get your finger broken or your a$$ kicked,,,,,or worse,,,,getting your nads punched by some chain-smoking grandma.