Lost Slot Ticket - Would This Have been Handled Differently in Vegas?

It probably is a function of the recession that they're extending their hand to players more than they used to. Interestingly enough, the old President riverboat casino in St. Louis also charged an admission fee ($5 I think, but they waived it once you got a slot card). Shady, shady place with mean dealers.

My wife and I were at Resorts that weekend in 1978. It was the day before Memorial Day and the lines were quite long as people spent multiple nights waiting on the Boardwalk as well as the side entrances for the casino to open. We've spent many nights at Resorts over the years, but I don't remember the $10 admission charge early on. I do remember pre-buying buffet tickets which got you into a shorter line.

Merv didn't become involved until about ten years later. He was very visible on the property and we ran into him several times. He always had a sincere hello and handshake for everyone.

I'll be damned.

Terrible customer service. I would think, like you, that so many things are given away that some sort of recoupment, even if less than your $100, would be possible and may well have saved themselves a customer.

My place tracks down anything over $20. In your case (what, 30 sec away?) the ticket would have been immediately canceled and redrafted. Had it been already redeemed as yours had, we would have backtracked you until we seen the ticket, ID'ed the patron who took it, and approached them in an attempt to get them to pay restitution. Hell, we even do that on our own if someone drops money. L/F cash gets called up and we begin the search, often returning it before the patron even knows they lost anything. Of course there is no legal option (we also have signs that say 'lost ticket, not our fault') but most people are either relatively honest (presume it to be like a dropped bill and are willing to return it to the owner) or feel guilty and pay it back. If we could pretty much assume the patron KNEW it was yours (which with such a short time leads me to believe someone saw you print and leave it) then we may have a legal option and usually the possibility of theft charges greases the wheel and gets your money back easier.

No offense to you, but I HATE these incidents (really, no offense intended =)). Personally, I grew up to watch my stuff lest it go missing. Losing money is payment for the lesson I just learned. Also, because of my job, I find it an extreme hassle to have to babysit adults when I have many more important things to get done, and in an incident like this the work usually far exceeds any sort of value of the result. HOWEVER, I will say I am biased and this is not directed at you because your situation isn't the typical one I have such a beef against. Usually, someone loses a ticket, notices it 20-30 minutes later, waits another 60 minutes because they can't pull themselves off of Pot 'OPennies or some such nonsense, THEN they report it and turn a 5 minute search into a 2 hour wild goose chase that always ends the same way; the guy who took it left the casino. Once Slots are notified, they come back with 'Meh, it was only $32, the patrons not all that upset" ><! In your case, you can bet we would have found it, and in such a short time span there should have been no reason to not attempt, IMO.

Terrible customer service is the norm at too many casino's. Over 40 casino's in Colorado have closed since gambling was legalized in 3 mountain towns. Worse service I ever got was in Playboy Club in Atlantic City. Rode bus from Baltimore several times a month due to Playboys late departure schedule. Usually had free buffet and $25 comps in quarters. Would stay and play out of loyalty until first
insult. Usually didn't take long BJ dealer waving smoke back at players, rude answer to a question, etc. Classic was the night after free prime rub, my wife and I lined up to get comps. Was rotated among cages so there would just be one line. This cage was next to $1 slots and wife wanted to play our $50 on slots while I headed to BJ with another couple that was with us. This was a full cage, just had a large amount of rolled quarters. When she asked for dollar coins the lady spit out in a nasty tone . " NO You bus people will have to go to another cage and trade them there ! " So with full bellies and $100 of playboys quarters we caught a cab to Harrah's.

Quote: silversonic2006

I'm not mad at the floor manager's ruling; I didn't expect them to do anything. I fully accept that if the casino wants to say "Sorry, tough luck" in a situation like mine, then that's their choice to make and as a casino guest, I accept that ruling when I play there. I'm just curious to know if a casino in a more competitive market would have done anything else for a guest. Sounds like the answer is probably not.

I have had a similar situation in atlantic city ceasars palace..i informed the floor manager who knew me, also the cage, at that time I didnt think much of it, because I only play slots to kill time, but later one of the pit bosses at craps (again who knew me) came up and said they have sent me a free champange bottle (in my room) to make up for my lost ticket...(again could me because I was already comped full RFB)...but I agree with the above post, i didnt expect anything but it was still nice to have a nice gesture from the casino
Cheers

Quote: Face

My place tracks down anything over $20. In your case (what, 30 sec away?) the ticket would have been immediately canceled and redrafted. Had it been already redeemed as yours had, we would have backtracked you until we seen the ticket, ID'ed the patron who took it, and approached them in an attempt to get them to pay restitution.

Face,
We do the same thing. It's easy enough to track the ticket and ID whoever took it. We will approach the customer that took the ticket and try and give them an easy out to give the ticket or money back. "Did you happen to grab a ticket from a double diamond machine by the gift shop by mistake?". 9 times out of 10 they give it up pretty easily. It surprises me how many times people do things in a casino that they would never do someplace else.

Mark

I had a $420 video poker slot ticket taken out of my pocket at one of the 'Strip' casinos. By the time I realised that it had gone, the ticket had been cashed. Expensive lesson learnt that day.

Quote: Switch

I had a $420 video poker slot ticket taken out of my pocket at one of the 'Strip' casinos. By the time I realised that it had gone, the ticket had been cashed. Expensive lesson learnt that day.

That's easy. Backtrack you until we see it being taken, backtrack thief until he uses players card, identify, flag and wait for him to return. He returns, notify authorities, make em pay it back and throw him in the clink. Notify you of findings and arrange to get money back. Unless he doesn't use a players card, then you're SOL.

Do places not do this? I thought it was standard operating procedure, customer service and all that. I get sent on wild goose chases for the most mundane things, I'm surprised a $420 theft would be ignored.

Quote: Face

That's easy. Backtrack you until we see it being taken, backtrack thief until he uses players card, identify, flag and wait for him to return. He returns, notify authorities, make em pay it back and throw him in the clink. Notify you of findings and arrange to get money back. Unless he doesn't use a players card, then you're SOL.

Do places not do this? I thought it was standard operating procedure, customer service and all that. I get sent on wild goose chases for the most mundane things, I'm surprised a $420 theft would be ignored.

The casino tracked the ticket and found out that it had been cashed out through the ATM ticket payout machine. Security didn't tell me if they saw the person cash out the ticket on their surveillance cameras. I spent 2 hours at the police station reporting the incident and the police checked the casinos cameras the next day and found nothing that could pinpoint the thief.

Quote: Switch

... the police checked the casinos cameras the next day and found nothing that could pinpoint the thief.

Ah, OK. Yeah, that does happen sometimes where we/they just can't tell. It just sounded from your post like they threw up their hands like "what canya do?". At least they tried...=(