can i claim another persons winnings

this is my question someone i know won a jackpot under 2,000 dollars,unfortuantly they are banned from the casino they won it at..
well they gave them my name and info and social security card number...his excuse was he didnt have his license... so my question is he has 30 days to go pick it up with a valid ID...now can i get into any legal trouble for going and picking the winnings up?i mean he did give them my name and social securtiy number ...just didnt know if they would find out or rememebr what he looked liked of course they have cameras but will they go back and look?

Most likely they will require picture ID and he will not be able to pick it up. You can get it and you will receive the tax hit for the income.


ZCore13

Take this with a grain of salt.

If you and he use an IRS form 5754 , with your name and social on the money, you should be able to claim it, and then you use that form (with his name, address, and social as well as your own) to offset the split with the guy for your taxes and his (he'll need to file it as well). It would cost him at least 10% for me to claim it, after he used my name and social on it, I can tell you.

That said, there's a lot of precedent that the person who pushes the button is the person who won, and even if you are in a split partnership, you're doing something that could perhaps cause you a problem down the road. However, it seems unlikely that, if you match your photo ID, they'd look at the surveillance tapes to match your likeness. I could be wrong.

thanks for the info...i just wasnt for sure if i could get into any legal trouble for going to claim something that i didnt win....

Quote: hellafide11

thanks for the info...i just wasnt for sure if i could get into any legal trouble for going to claim something that i didnt win....

You say that like you won't. I think I and the others are saying, yes, conceivably, you can, as you are not the one who won it. But we're speculating on how likely it is you would in real life. Just want to be sure you understand the difference.

No i am just asking a simple yes or no question will i get into trouble for doing it?
what is the odds that i will get into trouble since we arer all gamblers here...and second what kind of charge would it even be if i did get caught?

My uneducated guess is that there would be nothing illegal about you claiming the money since he gave your info with the intention of you claiming it. There's potential for legal trouble if he were to use your ID or a fake ID to claim the money himself. If the casino finds out a banned player is using friends to extricate his winnings, I doubt they'd do anything more than ban you as well.

Seriously people? THIS IS ILLEGAL. The person who hits the jackpot is required to initially claim it. After that do whatever you want.

Yah, there are some IRS legal issues here but I really do not want to look at the IRS website for the exact answer and citation. Was on it and the Fincen site for way too long the other day and my quota for the month is done. So even if illegal could you get away with it?

Well the answer is pretty much maybe. You say the actual winner was banned and did not have ID for the payout. If it was the casino I work at then I would say we would most likely have a nice picture of that person that was banned and we would probably have some note on that jackpot receipt to check that ID and to maybe contact surveillance to see if the person asking for the payout matches the picture we have. If it did not match then we probably would not payout. If we did payout then we would be letting the IRS know about the situation and leave the ball in their court.

Now with that being said not all casinos run the same way and you might be able to waltz right in an get paid but please be aware the banning does raise the risk of ruin in this case.

Quote: AxelWolf

Seriously people? THIS IS ILLEGAL.

So are tax fraud and identity theft. Nice friend he has there.

OP should consult an attorney to find out how not to get in trouble for what the friend did with his social security number.

This whole thing seems weird to me.

I seldom remember my friends address unless I go to my phone, and you wouldn't do that to answer a question about "my" address.

But, ok, let's presume he knew it. How many people have their friends ssn's memorized?!?

Quote: MathExtremist

So are tax fraud and identity theft. Nice friend he has there.

OP should consult an attorney to find out how not to get in trouble for what the friend did with his social security number.

I don't really know the exact law, it was a knee jerk reaction from some of the possible bad advice. legally speaking it may come down to intent and the circumstances .

I do know most casinos do not allow this . A 5754 can be used to TRANSFER some or all of the JP after or during the payment(not switch), but that's obviously not what he/we were talking about. I'm not judging or saying anything derogatory about or to the OP, but I think he needs to not take the advice from here as fact, especially advice saying its ok.

It might not be an issue to pick it up after transferring the liability. I'm fairly certain what he did at the time wasn't legal.

Quote: AxelWolf

I don't really know the exact law, it was a knee jerk reaction from some of the possible bad advice. legally speaking it may come down to intent and the circumstances .

I do know most casinos do not allow this . A 5754 can be used to TRANSFER some or all of the JP after or during the payment(not switch), but that's obviously not what he/we were talking about. I'm not judging or saying anything derogatory about or to the OP, but I think he needs to not take the advice from here as fact, especially advice saying its ok.

It might not be an issue to pick it up after transferring the liability. I'm fairly certain what he did at the time wasn't legal.

I would agree. What the first guy did was completely illegal. But what the OP wants to do is probably illegal in a minor way (IMO: IANAL, as you know). But like somebody said, what is the casino going to do other than ban him if they have a problem with it? If I'm him, I go in as Mr. Innocent Team Member, pooling my BR with the clown, and had no idea I couldn't pick up the money, since it was partially mine. What, he's banned from playing here? I didn't know that!

Yeah, it's a little strange he knew the OP's SSN. But maybe they've had to do joint jackpot splits before and are playing as a team. You have to file the sharing paperwork right then if you want to take care of it most easily; in my (limited) experience, it was a nuisance to straighten it out after my friend had signed for the entire amount.

I have had similar situations before and never had a problem having someone else cash out my jackpots. In fact, in NYS it's quite common, there are people who make a hustling living at it.

That's because the jackpot amount in NYS is $600 and if you have a win over that NYS will check to see if you owe NYS any money (child support, back taxes, parking tickets, welfare arrears, etc.) I've seen people scream several times when they went up with a thousand dollar win and were told every penny was forfeit due to a NYS claim (and told they have to check with NYS what it was even for as the casino isn't given that info.)

There are hustlers here who are trusted by those in the know to cash out vouchers, free and clear and will hand over the money (they are generally trustworthy as its their livelihood and their trust is imperative if they want to keep doing it.) They charge 10%. The casino frowns on it but in the few instances I have heard of it being challenged, the casino simply refused payment until the real winner claimed it. No police or law enforcement were ever called.

Also had a situation in AC where my partner went to cash out a large jackpot and we were using my players card. They simply informed him I needed to be the one to do it. They didn't call the cops there either. Since your friend gave your info, I doubt they will check the vids. They only do that when something looks suspicious. Claiming jackpots is not inherently suspicious.

I also find casinos are real lazy when it comes to accessing old vids.

Hope that was helpful.

To avoid video can't you just wait X amount of time to claim it. I am guessing you have 90 days to claim it. How long are videos kept, 20 days? Unless they archive it.

Quote: GWAE

To avoid video can't you just wait X amount of time to claim it. I am guessing you have 90 days to claim it. How long are videos kept, 20 days? Unless they archive it.

For native owned casinos the video must be retained for a minimum of 7 days. Most places I talk too do keep it longer. I doubt any lengthy video was retained, but a snap shot of the banned individual was retained if the store has good controls in place.

Here's what happened recently with a jackpot won by an excluded player:

http://www.poconorecord.com/article/20151118/NEWS/151119508

Consult a civil attorney in these matters as they can also suggest you many other alternatives as well as prevent you from making any fraud. Recently my friend faced a similar situation, so she consulted a renowned lawyer (one Mr. Bechara Tarabay,,) and he guided her perfectly.

It'd be illegal to intentionally claim someone else's winnings.

Let's say, theoretically, you didn't go with the intent to claim your winnings.....you just went with the intent to gamble and they reminded you of somehow you stumbled into the situation. Perhaps it was you who hit the jackpot and didn't have ID, and you just forgot mis-remembered what happened. Perhaps you go to players club area and get a reprint of your card where they inform you you have a JP to claim?

But if it really wasn't you, I wouldn't claim the JP. I'm just saying it's possible you forgot.

The two times I hit for slots that required a handpay and didn't have my id, they had me sign the ticket. When I returned with I'd, they had me sign two sheets of paper and spent several minutes comparing the signatures.