I see a thread on this about once or twice a year. It comes up on alt.vacation.las-vegas, AOL Travel-Las Vegas and now Here. I have heard of it as "Claiming" and in Nevada, it is supposed to be illegal. That is what I heard. I understand from what I read it can be serious but is usually enforced with some discression. Some casinos don't seem to care, or if you are a legitimate player and the guards know you and that you are a guest at the hotel, they may not seem to care. However, if you look like a loiterer or a street person or someone who is just looking suspicious they may enforce it on you. The reason for this might be that it is those, discribed, types of people that drift into a casino and start trolling for coin cups, purses and abandoned credits. They are not patronizing the casino, just trolling for opportunities. That is probably why, most of the "HOW TO" posts tell you to casually look around, While You Are Playing, and when you notice some credits, insert a couple of your own coins, Play a couple spins or hands of VP and then cash out. That way, you do not appear to be "TROLLING". It seems interesting that every post I have read where people ASKED a host or security guard, they were just told to play them or, "There Yours". I even read one post where the person was playing a machine and a security guard confronted him and directed him to another machine. The guard said, See those credits? The player said yes, The guard then said Would you play those?

I understand that casino employees are not allowed to touch the machines or money, unless they are certain employees. That is why it takes 3 people to give you a hand pay or refill. One person opens the machine and does the paperwork, another brings the cash or refills and a third seems to witness the whole process. I may be off on this but that is my observations with the pitifully few times I have been through the process.

I think what Gene was saying is that if they catch you Trolling, whether it is for coin cups or credits, they will ask you to leave and not to patronize their establishment again. If you come back and they catch you, they can have you removed as a tresspasser and will give you such notice? That is how I understood it.