So this past weekend, I was doing some gambling at Cactus Pete's in downtown Jackpot, NV. I had been cashing out on some long-unattended slot machines that still had a few cents on it. The most I got on one unattended machine was 39 cents. After cashing out at various times throughout the weekend, I went to the main cage to cash out six tickets worth a grand total of 38 cents. In making small talk, I said it was amazing what people left on the machines. The "Casino Cage Supervisor" (that's what her name tag said) told me that what I was doing was technically stealing other people's private property and she refused to cash the tickets out. OK fine. So I walked around for five minutes, went to a ticket redemption machine, cashed out 25 cents worth, went and played video poker at one of the bars (lost $40), then cashed out the other 13 cents and went to the gift shop to get some cough drops (smoke is so bad around here that I had one impressive sore throat). I was followed into the gift shop by security guard who wanted to see my ID. After I showed him my ID, he left. I got my cough drops and went to get into my car to head home. We had stayed two days and it was time to go home. Before I got into the car, I was stopped by a different security guard AND a manager from Cactus Pete's who told me they had caught me cashing in tickets that weren't mine and wanted to know how much money the tickets were worth. I told them 38 cents. The manager told me he wanted it back. So I pulled out the change in my pocket and gave him 38 cents. He then notified me that what I was doing was stealing and if I ever came into Cactus Pete's again, I better not ever do that again.

So my questions are this. I have a call into a manager at Pete's, but I haven't heard back. 1) Has anybody really heard of such a "law" (I mean, if I stalked somebody and cashed out their machine if they went into the bathroom for $50, that's one thing; but cashing out a long-dormant machine for 5 cents?!) 2) If it is truly stealing, why didn't the "Casino Cage Supervisor" just take the tickets away from me, but rather wait for me to gamble some more and buy some cough drops BEFORE making a big scene? and 3) If this happened to you, what would you do? Would you ever return to said casino ever again?

Like I said, any and all opinions are welcome. Personally, I think the fact that I got stalked, accosted by two different security guard and a casino manager all over 38 cents might be the single most asinine thing I've ever seen a casino do. Was the casino in the wrong or was I in the wrong?