You approach a $25 slot, and notice there is $15 in machine. What do you do?

Machine is abandoned, and credits show $0, but $15 remains in a $25 machine. The $15 has been in the machine for hours, and there's no one nearby.

 

I would cash out the tito and set it next to the machine.

 

I've seen this happen more than a handful of times at local casinos, though usually for MUCH less $$$. For instance, $0.50 in a $1.00 machine. Usually, I'll go ahead and play the machine, but sometimes I've been known to take out the 50 cents, and drop it in a nearby penny machine.

Most ridiculous I've ever encountered was spotting a "Quick Hit" $5 slot machine sitting at the bonus round, waiting for the user to pick tiles. This was at 4am on a weeknight, and not in a tourist town. I walked away, came back an hour later, and nobody was around, so I picked the tiles, and let the bonus round play out (probably won around $300), then IMMEDIATELY left the casino after cashing out. Was very nervous that I could get in trouble for that. Not really sure, and I bet it depends upon the state.

 

I dont see what the big deal is, a $25 machine means whoever played it was loaded, cash out and walk away.

 

So, it's okay to be dishonest as long as the person is "loaded"?

I would cash the TITO and turn it in to a slot attendant. If they choose to keep it, that's their karma, not mine. I don't even keep 5 cent TITOs left at a machine.

 

This.

To cash it out and keep it is to take a huge risk, as unclaimed winnings legally belong to the casino. Remember, there are cameras everywhere.

 

And what if you play on their money and hit a jackpot. A big jackpot would be reviewed by cameras possibly and they would notice you put in no money. Wonder what actions would follow.

 

One of my trips I was playing VP at Mandalay Bay and was chatting with a slot attendant. She eventually started bringing over small TITOs that people abandoned and plugging them in my machine. No $15 ones though.

As for the question... I would turn it in. You don't need bad karma when gambling.

 

Look around to see if the owner is nearby…if not, then I'd either cash out and leave the TITO on the machine, or just walk away.

$15 isn’t going to tempt me, even with zero chance of getting in any trouble or having someone call me out. Good karma/clear conscience is worth many multiples of that.

 

If it was a machine I was going to play on, I would just add my money to it and play as normal. If it was just a random machine, I'm not sure what I would do...maybe just cash it out and keep it. Unless you're a homeless dude, I doubt anyone would even notice, especially if it's only for a few bucks.

 

Normally, I wouldn't even be approaching a $25 machine, but I would probably insert my own money on top of the $15 and just play the machine and cash out the full amount after my session (including the $15 left in the machine). This may not be the most ethical way to handle it, but it's what I realistically would do.

 

Yep. Another scenario... the person who left the $15 suddenly realizes their mistake, and returns to find you playing the machine.

They find a slot attendant and complain that you might be playing on their money.

They open up the machine, and determine that the original person's card was removed with $15 remaining, and no TITO was printed. They also see that you were the next player to insert your card.

They review the video and conclude you were the in fact the next person to play after the rightful owner left. At this point, the casino has grounds to press charges if they so choose.

Not worth it.

 

I seriously doubt it would go that far, all this talk of gambling karma is kind of funny. If you decided to play on the machine, you could easily explain that you just put money in and started playing and didn't even notice there was money in there. At the most, you would give up the 15 bucks to the person if they come back to claim it. It may not be the "moral" thing to do, but give me a break, people are losing money all of the time in Vegas.

 

Take the money for sure

 

If there is not enough cash left for the next spin, I leave the left over money in the machine all the time. My thought is that maybe the next person will need just enough to make one more spin - that could be a winner. Lucky them, good karma for me. For my bankroll - that could be .03 to $.35 - If someone is playing a $25 machine and left $15 - they can afford to leave the money in the machine and I would see it as luck for me, karma for them. I would add money and play it out. If the person returned I would offer to cash out and give them their money back or split any win I had - just to avoid problems and the whole karma thing.

Cin

 

No one has said add $10 so its max bet, THEN spin?? Cmon!

 

That sounds great till you end up on a hidden camera show set up to hit a fake jackpot on the next spin. Then when security and crew come out to check you, a fake person comes up and says I just back from the atm because I needed more money to do the last spin. They then threaten to sue, fight them , etc.

 

Every state has different laws concerning this. I haven't found a casino in LV that cared about abandoned tickets yet. They will not press charges in Nevada as told to me by casinos suits. If no one claims the ticket which is 99.9% of the time the casino cashes it and places it in an account that goes to the state. There is a specific law on found chips, it is the property of the casino. I haven't found any specific law on slot vouchers in Nevada.

 

Lol where do you guys come up with these scenarios?

 

This happened to me at Rio a couple of years ago. Waiting for my GF to finish up on a machine, so I put $5 into a penny machine to donk away. Spin once, and realize the machine already had $20 sitting on it.

Call over the slot attendant, tell her. She goes back to whomever, and tells me to keep the $20.

I agree, not worth "just playing it" or "cashing out and running". Too many cameras and everything else around.