John.G.Zaroff wrote:
blaw57 wrote ....
Here's the crux - I asked Bob and Dan to have the "eye-in-the-sky"
films reviewed for the last 5 minutes, to see who cashed out my machine and
where they went after they did it. They refused to do this, and further
stated that there was nothing illegal in someone taking the credits from an
"abandoned" machine (I had my chair leaned up against the machine, had an
open water bottle next to it and my usual litter in the coin tray -
cigarettes and lighter, strategy cards, notebook and pen). They said that
they did not condone the practice, and that if they noticed it happening
they would have interfered "just because we don't want that kind of person
in our casino" but that they were not going to get involved in making one
guest give money back to another guest who had abandoned it.I thought there was some sort of law about taking money from a
machine that's not yours. I have heard of security guards booting
people out for silver mining. There was a huge lawsuit at Motor
City Casino in Detroit where a woman was escorted out for picking up
a nickel in a coin tray. She wasn't treated very nicely and sued.
The judge in the case awarded her $875,000.So, is there a law against taking money from a machine that you
haven't been playing? If so, couldn't you use that piece of
information to get Harrah's interested in your claim? And if it
isn't a law, it sure seems like there would be some more aggressive
battles for coins in a machine. If I start up for a stretch break,
does that constitute an abandoned machine? I would think the
casinos want less conflict, not more.
I'm not sure whether there is a law specifically against cashing out
someone else's machine, but it seems that it should fall under the
common theft laws.
There is a law or regulation that money abandoned in a casino becomes
the property of the casino (giving further indication of who controls
the politics in this state). Thus, when the player left the machine
unattended with credits, the money technically became the property of
the casino. When someone else cashed it out, it seems that
technically he was stealing from the casino.
That judge's award obviously had nothing to do with taking the
nickel. It only had to do with how she was treated. Most casinos
would have simply informed her of the law and warned her not to do it
again.
I remember a case reported here last year at Sam's Town where a
player abandoned credits on a machine without any slot card, upturned
chair, or anything else to indicate that he was returning. Another
player cashed it out. The casino reviewed the tapes, paid the
original player the money that he had abandoned, and went after the
player who cashed it out for return of the money. Here was a case
where the casino went out of its way to help a stupid customer.
Will I ever play at Harrah's again after hearing this story? No. I'll
play at casinos such as Sam's Town who try to help out unfortunate
players. Here's a suggestion for some web site manager -- start a
rating system for casinos, keeping track of stories such as this.
My recommendation: If something like that happens to you, ask the
casino to call Gaming Control. They are required to do so at a
player's request. If they won't call, the phone number is 486-2020.
Dan
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--
Dan Paymar, author of "Video Poker - Optimum Play"
Editor and publisher of "Video Poker Times" newsletter
Visit my web site at www.OptimumPlay.com
"Chance favors the prepared mind"
- Louis Pasteur
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