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Spotting a Chip on the Floor

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Chat' started by pogo55, Aug 18, 2013.

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  1. pogo55

    pogo55 Tourist

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    I was just in Atlantic City this weekend and was sitting at a slot machine waiting for the cocktail waitress. I looked around to see if she was in the area and when I looked down at the floor ,because it was cluttered with bottles, glasses and napkins , I saw a purple chip laying on the floor beside a table. The table had been locked down. When I looked up a floor person had also spotted it and picked it up. So is this kind of like "finders keepers" if you find a chip on the floor? So what would you do? Keep it or turn it in.

    Pogo
     
  2. northerngirl

    northerngirl High-Roller

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    This happened a few years ago at our local Native American casino. An elderly lady that I met (and grew to love), went to this casino at least four times a week and only played cards. One night, as she was walking through the casino towards the tables, she saw an acquaintance at a slot. As they were visiting, she looked down only to see a $100 chip on the floor. Her acquaintance told her he hadn't noticed anyone walking by and told her to take the chip. So my friend picks up the chip and sits at a blackjack table. She shows the dealer and the players at the table what she had found. Everyone is happy for my elderly friend. About 15 minutes later, she is surrounded by three security guards tapping her on the shoulder...escorting her out saying "we know what you did and give it back". She was 86'd (banned for life) at any property the tribe owns. Needless to say, I no longer go to this casino. Seriously, do you think that casino ran back the tape to see who dropped the chip to get the money back to the rightful owner?
     
  3. jamesxnj

    jamesxnj VIP Whale

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    It's not finders keepers.Chips on the floor belong to the casino..
    That said I'd take it to the cage next day or try to cash it along with a few blacks later on same day..
    Wondering what AC casino had a littered floor like that?
     
  4. red318is

    red318is Tourist

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    I have spent far more time in poker room than I have on the floor of the casino, but I have always heard the rule is checks down belong to the house. So as soon as the chip touches the floor, the casino is the rightful owner of the chip and they may choose to give it to whom ever they feel it belongs to. This happens quite a bit in a poker room with so many chips getting pushed around the table.

    I did drop a $100 chip at Palazzo last year. The dealer and pit boss attempted to help me find it, but to no avail.
     
  5. Lhammer28

    Lhammer28 High-Roller

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    Well, being as I work at a native casino I have, numerous times,seen chips on the floor. We cannot pick them up, however, we can tell guests that they may have lost a chip. Then they pick it up and its theirs. I know that if it is a $100 or $500 chip someone MAY come forward and say this is where it was when I saw it last and they will go over video to find who picked it up, but if its a red, green or black, they might not even do it. I have seen $100 bills on the ground, same concept, I told a player they may have dropped a bill, they pick it up and then that's it. The security officers have to fill out so much paperwork so unless its a $100 or more, I just tell someone in the vicinity that its there and they may have dropped it.
     
  6. jamesxnj

    jamesxnj VIP Whale

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    Horrible way to treat that situation..If they were that sweating a $100 chip a comp buffet may have been a gesture at least.Name that casino here so others can be wary!
     
  7. RockyBalboa

    RockyBalboa Front Line Winner

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    Several trips ago my girlfriend and I were walking back to our room at the Mirage. She spots a black chip on the ground. I did not see it and I thought she was drunker than normal.

    Sure enough laying on the floor is a black chip.

    I picked it up and we stood there for a couple minutes looking around to see if anyone was frantically searching or patting their pockets like they lost something. Nope.

    So we walked away and on the way up to the room I told a security guard and he said "looks like its your lucky day, buddy".
     
  8. 44inarow

    44inarow VIP Whale

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    Agreed. I mean, it's definitely not finders-keepers, and I could 100% understand them telling her she needed to hand over the chip, but tossing her? Unless there's more to the story, that's ridiculous.
     
  9. USCHawks

    USCHawks High-Roller

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    I've never been lucky enough to find a black chip, but I was on the receiving end of a $25 chip earlier this year. I was playing by myself for a while at a $10 Blackjack table earlier this year and when the cocktail waitress came by with my drink she noticed a $25 chip right behind my chair. She asked me if it was mine and although I had a few $25 chips on the table, they were underneath a stack of reds and I know they didn't fall out. I told her no, and she said it looked like it was my lucky day. I gave her $10 for my beer and thanked her.
     
  10. earth-3

    earth-3 VIP Whale

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    Does the casino feel credits left on a machine are theirs as well?
     
  11. Auggie

    Auggie Dovahkiin

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    Casino chips are considered the property of the casino, even if you are using them at the tables or take some home with you they are still considered to be owned by the casino and that you are using them as tokens to represent wagers you are making in the casino.
    (NOTE: that doesn't mean if you walk out the front door with a stack of chips in your pocket you are going to be arrested for stealing)

    If you find something on the ground or somewhere and not talking about just in a casino, be it a chip, somebody's wallet, a dropped cellphone, you have to make a reasonable effort to return it to whoever lost it otherwise it is considered "theft by finding" in this case because the chip belongs to the casino and the casino has a fixed address that can be easily located it would legally be considered theft to keep the chip.
     
  12. klawrey

    klawrey High-Roller

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    Actually Earth-3 you are correct to an extent. If credits are left on a machine you are technically not supposed to take these or play with these. I know Vegas used to and may still have a problem with homeless people coming into casinos and searching out credits left on machines and redeeming the tickets to make a few bucks. As for how you are "technically" supposed to go about credits left on a machine you want to play I do not know. With that said, I don't think they are actually going to search you out for playing what is likely no more than a dollar or even then do much about it besides tell you it was wrong. More of just a "technicality" that it is not your credit to take.
     
  13. Julie888

    Julie888 VIP Whale

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    One of my first Vegas trips I found a chip on the floor of the IP. Didn't have a clue what it was. A CW told me it wasn't worth anything and to give it to her. No way. I kept it as a souvenir as it was worthless. Had it for a long time before I lost track of it. Can't remember the colour except that it was dark.
     
  14. Kickin

    Kickin Flea

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    This same thing happened to me at the Bellagio but with a yellow $1000 chip. They saw me drop it as I was getting up and the pit boss helped look for it and we eventually found it (rolled into the pit) but before we did he told me not to worry he'd call security and if anyone picked up the chip they'd get it back to me. Those casino carpets are so funky its easy not to notice a chip laying there.
     
  15. volfaninbama

    volfaninbama High-Roller

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    Well if I find a chip on the floor and there is no one that obviously lost it I am claiming it and the rules no matter what they are it is mine unless the casino can proof otherwise. I have found a few red chips but more often cash. Several times I have found cash on the floor with no one around that it could belong to. If I drop my chip the casino does not replace it so if I recover a dropped chip I will not be returning it to them. Now if I find the rightful owner I would gladly return it. I was at a cash out machine the other day and a elderly lady cashed a ticket and left a Hundy in the slot I called to her and she didn't hear and had to chase her down to return it.
     
  16. 44inarow

    44inarow VIP Whale

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    Just to be clear, the rules as you consider them to be are at odds with the actual rules of the casino (and in some places, the law), so if you find a chip on the floor, you can definitely try to cash it, but I wouldn't be surprised if you run into some trouble with that.
     
  17. dankyone

    dankyone VIP Whale

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    We have seen a variety of comments here but this is the most accurate of the bunch. The chips are in fact the property of the casino, they are not cash equivalents. They are called "cheques" since they may be presented for cash payment by those who have legitimately used them for gambling and either paid for them or won them during the course of a game. A person who finds one on the floor is not necessarily entitled to cash the "cheque" they just found which really belongs to someone else. Of course, if you find a $100 chip it is not being tracked and they will just cash it. Try to cash one worth $5000 and you will see how quickly they can determine whether it is yours or not.
     
  18. shifter

    shifter Degenerate Gambler

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    no doubt about that. but at some casinos even $500 are tracked this closely. at the bigger, higher end places, nothing under $5k is really tracked. you can cash $1k and less chips all day long at the HL cage, they don't even ask for a players card unless the total is above $5k. but at the lower end or non-Vegas properties, purple chips and above are tracked religiously and if you try to cash one and you don't present your players card or the play doesn't match up with the chip, they will give it back to you and tell you that they can't cash it.

    but the bottom line is all cheques belong to the casino and they just allow you to use them to represent bets that you make. on the floor they are nothing but clay that belongs to the casino.
     
  19. topcard

    topcard Here's to $10 3:2 two-deck, $5 Craps, and $5 UTH!

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    If this was at the Indian Casino just north of Albuquerque, and it was in the late 90s, and it happened at about 10:30 PM on a Tuesday night, that was MY black chip!!!
    :beer:
     
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  20. pogo55

    pogo55 Tourist

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    We were at Harrahs Resort and on Saturday night it was packed. I overheard folks talking about the parking garage being full and had to valet park.
     
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