Cashing a Winning Ticket - Safety Concerns

I have a couple of general questions concerning safety when cashing a winning ticket.

1.) Do you have any reservations mailing in a winning ticket?

2.) Is there anything you can do to protect yourself?

Quote: Asswhoopermcdaddy

I have a couple of general questions concerning safety when cashing a winning ticket.

1.) Do you have any reservations mailing in a winning ticket?

2.) Is there anything you can do to protect yourself?

Obviously you should take a picture of the ticket.

Use a shipping method that can be tracked. Make sure you keep a copy of your ticket.

Take a picture of the ticket, send it certified mail.

You won't have any problems.

Quote: Asswhoopermcdaddy

I have a couple of general questions concerning safety when cashing a winning ticket.

1.) Do you have any reservations mailing in a winning ticket?

2.) Is there anything you can do to protect yourself?

I've mailed in tickets several times and all times but once I eventually got a check. The one bad time it went bad I was a few pennies short on the postage, because they had just raised the rates, and they mailed my envelope with the ticket back to me. However, on the way back the envelope got damaged and the ticket simply wasn't in the envelope. So, for lack of about three cents I lost a ticket worth hundreds. I know they recommend using certified or registered mail but there is always a huge line at the post office by my house and I figured it was a good risk to just use the regular mail and save my time. It sure would be nice if the casinos had generous expiration policies like a year. Surprisingly, only Caesars has an expiration policy that long.

certified mail. and priority. costs about 10 bucks.

Quote: Every ticket I've ever seen from everywhere

Management assumes no responsibility for lost or stolen tickets.

But.

1. Make photocopy, +4.

2. Registered mail as it says on the ticket, +2.

3. There is an audit trail. It doesn't exist for the purpose of bailing out folks with allegedly lost tickets. But.

3-a) If you used your player card when making the wager, that does make it possible for them to internally identify and confirm that you made that/those individual wager(s). I don't think there's anything that would require them to do so, but they can, and I know some have. And I have had something like this done for me with a large series of wagers for a significant amount that were incorrectly coded in a casino's system for purposes of comps & tier credits. Twice, involving multiple casino books at two different casino companies within the past three years.

3-b) There are good reasons some regular high volume bettors may not want to use their player card for tracking of house banked sports wagers (unlike pari-mutual wagers) and the other side of the scales for that equation is that comps for sports are nearly worthless as the rate ranges from tiny to zero. But, for the typical visitor making some wagers for fun & sporting purposes while on vacation, usually through purchasing paper tickets rather than one of the other alternatives, I suggest pulling out your player card before stepping up to the betting window. If you do that, your individual player ID will be both printed right on the paper ticket and also attached to that wager in their internal control systems, so it is easier to confirm that YOU made THAT wager, corresponding to your photocopy, and they are more likely to take the trouble to do a little investigation to help you out with a lost or destroyed ticket.

Apart from the payout, the cost to them is staff time, possibly involving people in multiple departments in a large organization. With your photocopy and player card ID you have reduced that burden. Plus, under these circumstances it is obvious at the outset that you are not a flaky degenerate local flea trying to scam them. And you will of course be very polite and unassuming with no hint of an attitude of entitlement in your dealings with the folks working at the casino involved, so they will want to take the time with the record keeping & accounting drones in the back of the house or central office to help you get a happy ending.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and support. I would also like to extend my thanks for Cantor Gaming for paying out my winning ticket. I never knew registered mail would take so long to get to Vegas! Took about a week and change. Left several messages to Cantor and it was good to know they had it on their radar.

Also important to know that it takes about 10 business days to process. Will feel more comfortable on future bets. Thanks again.

I have a question about this too... how good are they at finding out what the ticket is, should it be damaged. I placed my first bet in vegas, and it seems the slips they gave me don't fair well with sweat and vegas heat. some of the numbers are partially worn off. Is there any chance of sending this back in to claim or is it pretty much void?

Quote: ajemeister

I have a question about this too... how good are they at finding out what the ticket is, should it be damaged. I placed my first bet in vegas, and it seems the slips they gave me don't fair well with sweat and vegas heat. some of the numbers are partially worn off. Is there any chance of sending this back in to claim or is it pretty much void?

There will also be a bar code on that ticket corresponding to the identifying numbers and letters that are (were) printed on it. That bar code, unique to that individual ticket for that particular wager, is what the machine reads when the ticket is fed into it when it then tells the clerk what to give you when you present the winning ticket to the counter in person for payment. If you also managed to sweat and rub away the bar code before you got it home, congratulations on your wild Vegas vacation and your purchase of a soggy crumpled piece of scrap paper.

Quote: ajemeister

I have a question about this too... how good are they at finding out what the ticket is, should it be damaged. I placed my first bet in vegas, and it seems the slips they gave me don't fair well with sweat and vegas heat. some of the numbers are partially worn off. Is there any chance of sending this back in to claim or is it pretty much void?

Back in the 90s, or early 2000s 1998, I was in Vegas for the Daytona 500 in Feb. I bet Jeff Gordon to win the Nascar Championship that year at 8 to 1, or something close to that. By the time the season ended in Nov. the ticket was almost completely blank. I could not see Gordon's name, and the bet amount was very faint. I don't recall how faint the bar code was. I mailed the ticket in, and they paid it with no problem.

| Edit: I remembered it was the year Earnhardt won the Daytona 500 race, because I was going to bet on him, but changed my mind at the window. It was 1998.