Entertainment
October 13th, 2009 at 2:26:32 PM
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This thread is to be used to discuss entertainment available at Four Queens.
November 22nd, 2009 at 2:42:08 PM
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Not sure I agree that security handled the "vagrant" situation perfectly unless you left something out. A person (vagrant or otherwise) put $1 in an unattended machine and then proceeded to cash out the money on the machines. Did you tell him that you were "saving" the machine while your friend went to the bathroom?
Insurance is closed.
November 22nd, 2009 at 2:52:47 PM
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Quote: joenunzDid you tell him that you were "saving" the machine while your friend went to the bathroom?
Nope. Even if there were nobody close to it, that was money that didn't belong to him. I wouldn't want slot trolls prowling my casino either.
"For with much wisdom comes much sorrow." -- Ecclesiastes 1:18 (NIV)
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:57:00 PM
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I agree it was handled correctly. In this case I have no doubt that the "vagrant" new exactly what he was doing and put a dollar in just as cover to cash the machine out. For some reason people adopt a finders keepers attitude in a casino. Someone who wouldn't think of picking up a wad of cash in a grocery store and keeping it will do it in a casino.
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:02:41 PM
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Marc~~
Since you work at a casino I will ask you this question.
What is the status of money found on the casino floor? Does it belong to the casino or the person that finds it?
Common law would tell us that the finder has a paramount title against all except the true owner, and as long as you make a reasonable effort to give it back, you should be able to keep it. Of course the casino owns the land that it's on but that doesn't mean they have the right to the money it being a public place and all.
When I find money (in the past this has been 5-20 dollars), I alert the nearest security guard and tell him that somebody left the money there. But I've considered just taking the money as well, and waiting for somebody to come by for it. Not sure what the difference would be if it were a large sum of money.
What do you think?
-Ted
Since you work at a casino I will ask you this question.
What is the status of money found on the casino floor? Does it belong to the casino or the person that finds it?
Common law would tell us that the finder has a paramount title against all except the true owner, and as long as you make a reasonable effort to give it back, you should be able to keep it. Of course the casino owns the land that it's on but that doesn't mean they have the right to the money it being a public place and all.
When I find money (in the past this has been 5-20 dollars), I alert the nearest security guard and tell him that somebody left the money there. But I've considered just taking the money as well, and waiting for somebody to come by for it. Not sure what the difference would be if it were a large sum of money.
What do you think?
-Ted
"Dice, verily, are armed with goads and driving-hooks, deceiving and tormenting, causing grievous woe." -Rig Veda 10.34.4
November 22nd, 2009 at 9:12:11 PM
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That's a good question Ted and I have to admit I do not know the legal answer. It is our policy and practice to use all of our resources to find the rightful owner of found money or tickets. This happens on a daily basis in one way or another. We track 80+ percent of our play so most often we can find the rightful owner by looking at the event history recorded on the slot system. When we can't find it from the slot system we use surveillance to identify the owner and see if they are still in the casino. Remember that most everything in the casino is recorded to one degree or another. If we can't locate the owner we hold the funds for a few days to see if someone comes looking for it. If no one does the money is put back in as casino revenue. I can honestly say we return close to 100% of found money to it's rightful owner.
One thing that causes a lot of "lost money" issues is slot free play or promotional play. In our slot system and most others free play has to be bet at least once before it can be cashed out. If you download $20 in free play and you only bet $10 before cashing out you will leave $10 free play on the machine. Most of the time you will have won something on the free play you did bet so you'll get a slot ticket. It's very easy to walk away without noticing there is still a credit balance on the game. We find lost free play every day. We do the same thing with the free play that we do with lost money. We do our best search to find the owner and inform them they left the credits so they can return and play them. There is no way to clear the credits without playing them off. You can power cycle the slot machine and they will still remain there. If the owner can't be found we are forced to play the credits off so the machine isn't tied up anymore. It's the only time you hope to not win while playing.
Another problem that happens is when you put an odd amount slot ticket into a slot machine of a different denomination. On certain slots the machine will immediately spit out a ticket for the remainder of the ticket value. For example if you put a $20.98 ticket into a quarter denomination game the slot may immediately issue a ticket for 23 cents putting $20.75 to the meter. Sometimes the customer thinks their ticket has not been accepted (even though the ticket is printed from a different location then they inserted it) and take the ticket and walk away leaving the majority of the ticket value on the slot machine. At some point they look at their ticket and tell an employee that one of the machines shorted them. We check and hopefully no one will have cashed or played off the credits before we find them. I've had more than one conversation with kindly older ladies where I start out by asking "Mam, did you happen to cash out a ticket from a double diamond over there by mistake?" I always want to leave them an out so they can get out of the situation as gracefully as possible.
We once had one of our very good customers cause us this type of problem. This was a nice older man who would typically lose a grand or two on any given day. He was not wanting for money. One day we had a woman report that she had lost a cigarette case. She told us where she thought she left it so we checked and found it in the nearby area. According to her she had around $200 in it. When it was found there was no money in it. A review of surveillance showed our good customer find it, go through it then discard it where it was found. We approached him and asked if he found a cigarette case but he denied it. His demeanor told us he had more than likely taken the money. Since we didn't want to sick the poor woman who lost the money on our good customer we ended up telling her we thought we knew where her money went and we reimbursed her the $200 out of casino funds. We asked our good customer again if he was sure he didn't find anything and he still said he didn't. He ended up leaving and not coming back for about 2 weeks. When he came back he approached the shift manager he had talked to that night and said "I'm sorry, I did take that money" and gave it back. People often make foolish decisions in a casino that they wouldn't in a different setting.
One thing that causes a lot of "lost money" issues is slot free play or promotional play. In our slot system and most others free play has to be bet at least once before it can be cashed out. If you download $20 in free play and you only bet $10 before cashing out you will leave $10 free play on the machine. Most of the time you will have won something on the free play you did bet so you'll get a slot ticket. It's very easy to walk away without noticing there is still a credit balance on the game. We find lost free play every day. We do the same thing with the free play that we do with lost money. We do our best search to find the owner and inform them they left the credits so they can return and play them. There is no way to clear the credits without playing them off. You can power cycle the slot machine and they will still remain there. If the owner can't be found we are forced to play the credits off so the machine isn't tied up anymore. It's the only time you hope to not win while playing.
Another problem that happens is when you put an odd amount slot ticket into a slot machine of a different denomination. On certain slots the machine will immediately spit out a ticket for the remainder of the ticket value. For example if you put a $20.98 ticket into a quarter denomination game the slot may immediately issue a ticket for 23 cents putting $20.75 to the meter. Sometimes the customer thinks their ticket has not been accepted (even though the ticket is printed from a different location then they inserted it) and take the ticket and walk away leaving the majority of the ticket value on the slot machine. At some point they look at their ticket and tell an employee that one of the machines shorted them. We check and hopefully no one will have cashed or played off the credits before we find them. I've had more than one conversation with kindly older ladies where I start out by asking "Mam, did you happen to cash out a ticket from a double diamond over there by mistake?" I always want to leave them an out so they can get out of the situation as gracefully as possible.
We once had one of our very good customers cause us this type of problem. This was a nice older man who would typically lose a grand or two on any given day. He was not wanting for money. One day we had a woman report that she had lost a cigarette case. She told us where she thought she left it so we checked and found it in the nearby area. According to her she had around $200 in it. When it was found there was no money in it. A review of surveillance showed our good customer find it, go through it then discard it where it was found. We approached him and asked if he found a cigarette case but he denied it. His demeanor told us he had more than likely taken the money. Since we didn't want to sick the poor woman who lost the money on our good customer we ended up telling her we thought we knew where her money went and we reimbursed her the $200 out of casino funds. We asked our good customer again if he was sure he didn't find anything and he still said he didn't. He ended up leaving and not coming back for about 2 weeks. When he came back he approached the shift manager he had talked to that night and said "I'm sorry, I did take that money" and gave it back. People often make foolish decisions in a casino that they wouldn't in a different setting.
November 22nd, 2009 at 10:19:42 PM
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Mark, that was an outstanding post, thank you for taking the time.
I’ve always been too embarrassed to tell this story, but it seems topical, so I will. A few years ago I was playing video poker at the Luxor. Fortunately, I hit a royal, which made me happy. As I recall, I was in a bad royal drought, and it felt good to end it. Anyway, after they paid me I left, with about $800 in credits still on the machine. The next day I thought my wallet was a little light, but it could have been for any number of reasons.
About three weeks later I got a call from a slot manager. He got my phone number via the player card which I also left in the machine. He explained how I left credits on the machine, and was waiting for me to return to ask for them. I thanked him profusely, and admitted I just forgot to cash out after the hand pay for the royal. They gave me the choice to come in and get the money, or a check in the mail. I chose the check, because I live pretty far from the Luxor.
So, kudos to the Luxor, and to any casino that makes an effort to return money to absent-minded players like me.
I’ve always been too embarrassed to tell this story, but it seems topical, so I will. A few years ago I was playing video poker at the Luxor. Fortunately, I hit a royal, which made me happy. As I recall, I was in a bad royal drought, and it felt good to end it. Anyway, after they paid me I left, with about $800 in credits still on the machine. The next day I thought my wallet was a little light, but it could have been for any number of reasons.
About three weeks later I got a call from a slot manager. He got my phone number via the player card which I also left in the machine. He explained how I left credits on the machine, and was waiting for me to return to ask for them. I thanked him profusely, and admitted I just forgot to cash out after the hand pay for the royal. They gave me the choice to come in and get the money, or a check in the mail. I chose the check, because I live pretty far from the Luxor.
So, kudos to the Luxor, and to any casino that makes an effort to return money to absent-minded players like me.
"For with much wisdom comes much sorrow." -- Ecclesiastes 1:18 (NIV)
