How Much Money Do casinos Rake in on Uncashed Tickets for Coins?

How much money do casinos rake in on uncashed tickets for coins?

And

I’m currently in Las Vegas and occasionally I will win at slots, so I put my ticket in the redeemer machine. I get the bills, but depending on the casino, I don’t get the change. On the last ticket, I lost 71 cents. Why is that and where does it go?

The coin situation is yet another gouge implemented by the casinos toward the beginning of the pandemic when there seemed to be a shortage of them. Of course, no coin shortage exists today, but the redemption machines still issue only bills and a ticket for the change, which you have to take to the cage to cash. We've also heard that the redemption machines in Atlantic City and at other casinos on the east coast now dispense coins, so it sounds to us like the ones in Las Vegas could do the same without too much trouble.

A recent story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that gamblers left behind -- by losing, forgetting, not bothering to cash, damaging, throwing away by mistake, leaving in the machine, or allowing to expire -- uncashed slot vouchers worth $22 million in the fiscal year that ended on June 30. As for how much of that $22 million was accounted for by spare change, it's impossible to determine. But it's not hard to imagine that it accounted for an amount larger than pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters might suggest.

With the advent of ticket-in ticket-out gambling machines, in 2011, the Nevada Legislature passed a bill that hands over to the state 75% of the value of uncashed tickets for use in the state's General Fund; the other 25% goes to the casinos' bottom lines. The revenue sharing is administered by the Gaming Control Board. The casinos file a form that states the amount of unclaimed slot tickets and write checks for 75% of it.

The amount of money the state and casinos have collected from expired tickets has increased every year since 2012, the first year the state began collecting revenue from unclaimed tickets. That year, it was $4.2 million in unclaimed vouchers, of which the casinos kept $1.1 million. In 2019, it was $10.4 million and, as mentioned, $16.5 million in fiscal-year 2022. Thus, the casinos kept approximately $5.5 million in unclaimed tickets last fiscal year. Again, we strongly suspect that a significant amount was in tickets worth less than $1.

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Comments

Bob Sep-08-2022

Charity

Our local Casino has a collection box, although not prominently displayed. that you can put your tickets in for some charity. I'm sure they rotate charities.  I always thought this was a missed opportunity for casinos, especially when the redemption machines kicked out coins.  I hate walking around with a pocket full of Nickles and Quarters. I'd gladly pitch them into a hopper on the side of the machine for some cause. or with modern tech. just have an option on the screen. then at the end of the year the Casino(group) could make a big deal out of presenting a big check to whatever local cause, and it would look like them making the donation.

Randall Ward Sep-08-2022

change

I appreciate they let you donate but I go enough I just hang onto them and use next time.

O2bnVegas Sep-08-2022

answer to 2nd question

The OP may be missing the change from his TITOs if he is cashing tickets at MGM properties, Wynn, or other places who have implemented the system of printing 'change' on tickets separately from even money tickets.  He (we) must stand there and wait approximately 5-10 seconds, for a separate small ticket to print out from a small slot above the large bill slot.  Prior to dispensing of any of it the screen shows something like "dispense all", which still doesn't mean you get the whole $50.27 on one ticket. Must wait for the $0.27.  Easy to overlook.

The alternative is to donate the change, the $0.27 to one of the 'charities', e.g. "Workforce Development", by selecting that option before your $50.00 is dispensed.  Many people don't notice and walk away before waiting for the $.27 ticket to print.  It is still your money, so take it.

Candy

Brent Sep-08-2022

Fight the man!

Many of the larger casinos are engaging in this obvious scam. Some still continue the lie that it's because of the non-existent "coin shortage," other don't.

If you, like me, are fed up with the gouging, always always ALWAYS take your ticket with the remaining change to the cashier and ask for your money. If we all do this, the casinos are likely to realize that putting coins back in the redemption machines is more cost-efficient that making the cashiers process them manually.

Dave_Miller_DJTB Sep-08-2022

@Brent -

While I like your idea, it won't change things. It'll only make the processing time at the cage longer.

Casinos learned long ago when TITO became a thing, that it will never be more cost effective to load coins into the machines. The best we can hope for is that they issue the change as another TITO so we could at least hold onto it and merely put it back into a machine on our next visit.

Actually, a better plan would be to put the change on our player card accounts, but that would involve a more complicated process. (I.E. Never gonna happen.)

O2bnVegas Sep-08-2022

You can play it

Technically is isn't a scam, since you can either donate the amount to one of the 'causes' shown, or use the ticket in a slot machine, or, as mentioned, cash it in at the cage.  You can also pass it along to another player, and most appreciate.  A to-do was mentioned about it being 'illegal' to do so, which is ridiculous since you can alway pass along your own money to somebody else who is playing.  

Candy

Timbo Sep-09-2022

Local Charity

I visited Gun Lake casino in Michigan (Tribal casino) and you can choose to donate your coins to a local charity or it prints a quick jack TITO that you can take to the cage for your change.

Question of the Day - 08 September 2022

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