Myth Busted in Vegas: Slot Machines - Cashing Out an Unplayed Game is Permitted
Editor's Note: In our ongoing "Vegas Myths Busted" series, we publish new entries every Monday with a special Flashback Friday edition. This entry was first published on April 7, 2023.
Last week, TikTok user @ileana.justine shared a video of her favorite casino game: collecting money left behind on slot machines by players. After spending 30 minutes scavenging for abandoned cash-out slips, she managed to gather $7.28. The video went viral, garnering 4 million views and potentially leading to legal consequences.
Ticket mining, as this practice is known, has been around for a while. In the days of analog slots, it was called silver mining because coins, not tickets, were the rewards. Back then, casinos could evict and even permanently ban players, depending on the severity of the situation.
These days, many gambling jurisdictions consider it a misdemeanor or felony theft, depending on the value of the vouchers.
Time Behind Bars
@ileana.justine has yet to be jailed, but in 2004, a Colorado resident was convicted of misdemeanor fraud for using a leftover 76-cent credit found in a slot machine. A.J. Werling insists he simply inserted a $20 bill, unaware the credit had already been left behind.
Werling paid a $500 fine and performed 24 hours of community service.
KDVR-TV/Denver interviewed Werling in 2017, who emphasized his innocence. "It's been a nightmare. I'm not a criminal. It's ridiculous. It's 76 cents... I still have to deal with... having to go over what happened for jobs, apartments, anything that requires a background check. I have to disclose why I have a gambling theft conviction on my record."
For @ileana.justine, she reassured her audience: "Nobody needs to worry. I had my lawyer check into the legality. It wasn't illegal in the state I was in."
Finders Keepers Isn't the Law
While ticket mining isn't common in Nevada, the state district attorney has prosecuted criminal cases based on slot ticket theft. There are two statutes that could apply:
NRS 205.0832 states that someone who "comes into control of lost, mislaid, or misdelivered property of another person" and "appropriates that property to his or her own use, or that of another person, without reasonable efforts to notify the true owner" is committing a crime.
NRS 465.070 considers it illegal "to claim, collect, or take — or attempt to claim, collect, or take — money or anything of value in or from a gambling game ... without having made a wager."
Even if a slot ticket is left behind in a Vegas casino, it still belongs to the person who initially put the money in, not to the individual who finds it in the slot machine. Casinos are obligated to hold an abandoned voucher for 90 days if the original winner returns to claim it.
Once the 90-day mark passes, the voucher expires and becomes unclaimed property. The Nevada Gaming Control Board collects 75% of each abandoned slip's winnings, distributing it to the state general fund quarterly. The casino keeps the remaining 25% for administrative costs.
With $22 million in unclaimed tickets abandoned in 2022, Nevada casinos and the state government benefit from the lost winnings. Watch "Vegas Myths Busted" every Monday for more Vegas myths to be busted. Feel free to suggest a Vegas myth you want us to investigate by emailing us.
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Source: www.casino.org
