Even I still don't believe that this happened to me last week but it did. As I was trolling the Horseshoe in Tunica for slot cards I also keep an eye out for credits left on machines, coins left in the trays, coins on the floor, etc. First I find a credit left on a $5 machine and cash it out. Then I found 2 $.50 coins left in the same tray. Then I found a $1 token left in a tray. When I am back by the buffet I notice a carrousel of 5 or 6 machines and in one of the trays is a rack with $80 in tokens stacked in it. No one is near the machine except for a guy playing on the other side of the carrousel. After watching it for a few minutes I decide that it is abandoned. But what do you do with it? Turn it in to security or cash in a happy camper? I sure didn't want some 70 year old lady chasing me down the aisle screaming that I stole her chips. That's all I need is to end up in the Tunica, MS jail.
Here is the first solution. There were two security guards near the carrousel and I turned it in to them. They sort of politely chased me away and said that they would take care of it. They never even asked for my name. After talking to a few dealers about this and going back to my room to get my wife for dinner I decided that I would check with the security office and see if I had any right to the money if it was not claimed. Some people had said that the officers would get to keep it if it was not claimed. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the lady at the security desk said that a lady had claimed the $80 earlier so I had no chance to get anything.
Now the story gets even stranger. Two days later I am doing the exact same thing at Harrahs in Metropolis, IL and again I find a machine with a $5 credit on it, a machine with 3 $.25 credits on it and at the back of the boat a machine with $20 in tokens laying in the tray. Again I watched the machine for 5 minutes or more and decide that they are abandoned. Remembering what happened last time, I decide that if someone is stupid or drunk enough to leave the money in the tray then it is no different than finding a $20 bill on the sidewalk. I put $1 in the machine, spun it once and collected my $20 in "winnings".
So I guess here is the question. Given that a security officer or the casino itself will probably end up with these tokens what would you do in this situation?
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