Read somewhere that any money found on the floor of a casino belongs to the casino. I have been guilty of picking up coins and or chips dropped on the floor and not returning them to the casino. Guess I got away with something.

Once at the Holiday I noticed a $12.00 credit on a machine just as a casino employee walked by, asked him if anyone was playing the machine.
His response was "No, go ahead and play" and I did. Was that stealing?

When coins dropped instead of tito's I noticed that a lot of people walked away from machines with money in the trays.

In my opinion the casino overreacted. And why did the cashier return the
"stolen" tickets to you instead of confiscating them? If they knew they were not yours why would they give them back to you? Why did they take your word for the total amount you tried to cash? I don't think I would want to go back there. How about you.?