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Hi everyone-
It's almost 1 a.m. and I'm nowhere ready for sleep.
I had a bizzarre experience at Trump Plaza tonight, and this should
serve as a warning when using TITO machines to redeem tickets.
First the good news. My royal drought is finally over. I met a buddy
at the Plaza, and was playing 9/7 DB, when I saw a host of high diamonds
come up. I wasn't quite sure, and it took a moment to sink in. A dealt
royal! I freaked, as it's been a couple years since I had one of these.
Played a little bit and went to the machine to cash it in.
Here's the weird part. The machine was out of Benjis, and I got a big
wad of smaller bills. I took the wad and walked away, not wanting to
stand and count it with people behind me in line. When I went to the
cage to turn it into Benjis, the clerk counted it and only half my
jackpot was there. I immediately got a slot attendant, pointed out my
cashout on the machine (that my buddy had held as evidence). They opened
up the redemption machine, and the full amount was listed. The attendant
said it should all come out in one lump sum in one wad. He called
security, who went to look at the surveillance tape. A review of the
tape revealed that the machine delivered my payout in TWO wads, and the
man behind me in line took the other half of my winnings and walked off
with it. Of course, he quickly left the property. The whole process took
an hour, while I waited with the attendant at the redemption machine.
I filled out an incident report with the supervisor. I asked am I SOL
and out several hundred bucks. He said he can't authorize to reimburse
me. The bosses will look at the situation and my level of play, and make
a decision.
I must add, that all Trump Plaza staff were quite professional and
sympathetic, and the two attendants said they had never seen the machine
dispense a payout in two separate bundles. One of the attendants, who
waited with me for nearly an hour, refused a tip when I offered it.
My strong guess is that the Plaza will reimburse me, given that I'm a
heavy-duty player and it will generate good will. I'll report on that to
follow up.
Meanwhile, I am feeling like a complete idiot for leaving half my
jackpot in the machine, even though I'd never heard of the machine
dispensing in two bundles. My goal was to keep the line moving, and not
call attention to myself by counting a large wad of bills at the
machine. I consider myself pretty savvy about these things, and got
taken by a less-than-honest man in line behind me.
So everyone, if you use a TITO redemption machine, please make sure
you have all your money before leaving, especially if you're cashing out
a large amount.
vpFree administrator, please post this on vpFree as well. I'm sure
this happens in Vegas too.