3b. Re: The Wizard of Odds: Las Vegas Casino Blacklist
Date: Sat Feb 2, 2008 1:46 pm ((PST))
Since I go to Vegas once a year (or less) these days (since riverboats became handier), when I choose to place a sports bet, I ask how long I have to cash the ticket. They always tell me the truth, and also mention that if I can't come in person, I can send it in by certified mail and get paid by check (I've never had to do that yet, but it means there's an option).
I think I've sometimes had six months, sometimes a year.
In Indiana, lottery tickets must be cashed within six months. It says so on the ticket, and I don't recall ever having a discussion about this with the grocery clerk at the time of purchase, and they have never given me "fair warning" that my ticket has an expiration date -- and I wouldn't expect it.
I have a friend from out of state who bought some Indiana tickets, and six months or more later asked me to cash them for him. When he mailed them to me and I saw they had expired, I mailed them back. He figured it was HIS mistake for not reading the ticket. With a few exceptions, everyone else here seems to think that it is someone else's responsibility to tell them how to manage their sports tickets, not their own.
Caveat emptor - let the buyer beware.
All this said, I do think it is bad policy for a casino to have a redemption policy for sports bet tickets that is so substantially different than that of other casinos -- but if they can get away with it, so be it. I suppose one option is to picket their property with warnings: "Stratosphere unfair to sports bettors" -- but I'm not sure it's worth the effort!
--BG
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