I’m glad my articles are now posted on the GamblingWithAnEdge.com website. That provides a forum and often people take the time to respond to what I’ve said — or to comment on other responses.
A while ago somebody posted there, “Is it wrong to see someone drop money and you don’t tell them?” I want to tackle that one today.
My answer today is probably different than it was twenty-four years ago. Twenty-four years ago, I was brand new to Las Vegas and had moved to town with $6,000 in cash. My car was in decent repair. I wasn’t broke — but I was one or two unfortunate incidents away from being broke. I was playing blackjack with a girlfriend-partner, and that $6,000 had to cover bankroll AND living expenses.
At that time, I would probably have kept my mouth shut, waited until the person who dropped the money had stepped away, picked up the money, and left the area. This exact scenario didn’t happen to me, but similar-enough situations occurred that I’m pretty sure that’s what I would have done. I REALLY was in survival mode. Not literally, but psychologically. Since I hadn’t caused the person to drop the money, I wouldn’t have felt I was stealing the money. I could have slept at night.
Today I’m in a different situation in life. When I see people drop something, I normally speak up — basically by reflex. It’s usually not money which is dropped, of course, but sometimes it is. Today, the pleasure I get from an “extra” $100 is usually less than the grief felt by the person who lost it.
Even when I was barely getting by, there would be situations where I would speak up. Such as: If a mother was struggling with three young children and one of the kids caused her to drop some money — even if I was in a survival mode, I would have spoken up. Whatever her financial status, a mother with three young kids is having a difficult time and I wouldn’t want to make it any more difficult. Keeping the money would forever have me worrying about, “What if she was getting medicine for one of the kids and that was the only money she had?” Best to play it straight and not have those worries.
Picking up money that has been inadvertently left behind has lots of analogs in a casino. You see credits left on machines. You see multipliers left on Ultimate X machines. You see players leave “must hit by $500” machines when the meter is at $498. Sometimes you know who left these things and sometimes you don’t. Collecting credits left on the machine may be against the law in some jurisdictions (usually you won’t be caught), but often there’s no law telling you what you must do. Often, you’re free to make your own judgments and decisions.
Is there a moral difference to what my actions should be based on whether I was poor or I was rich? Probably not, but the world sure looks different depending on whether things are going your way or not.
I like living in a world where random acts of kindness are not all that unusual. And to have that world exist requires that I do my share. So, I do.
Very interesting topic.
I thought I read some time back (and it could have been in one of Bob’s books) that back in the days of the coin slot machines that coins left in a slot machine tray were considered the property of the casino.
Many, many years ago, while a married BROKE GI, the wife & I were on one of our very few entertainment outings…playing miniature golf outside. A young couple was a couple of holes ahead. We came upon a $10 bill that had to have come from them…no one else on course. Wife wanted to call to them…I pocketed it. To this day it still bothers me & I think of it quite often. Plus seems like when I do a good deed in casino it comes back to me as good karma..
I went grocery shopping today and when I got to my car I found an item in my cart that I had not paid for, a bottled lemonade. I went back into the market and paid them for it. About $1.70. But if this were thirty years ago, I’m sure I would have just left with it.
For me, random acts of kindness are coming from the Creator. When we perform such an action as this, we do so because that is the Creators way of getting us to care for each other, without expecting to be rewarded. Imagine everyone doing an “act of kindness” every day. WOW!!!!!!.
Funny, I would never even hesitate–I would alert the person who had dropped the money. This seems to be basic ethical conduct to me. And it doesn’t matter whether the person who dropped the money is a mother with nineteen kids or Bill Gates. Why on earth should that make any difference? And why should it matter how much money I have? If I need that twenty that guy dropped to pay the rent, so %^%#$ what?
I’ve been on both ends of this situation. People have alerted me when I’ve dropped money. I called someone back to the cage after they left six green chips on the counter (and the cashier didn’t see it). It seems like common decency to me, and I’m kind of appalled that the question is even being asked. It isn’t yours, and you know who it belongs to, What’s the problem?
I don’t view finding multipliers on UX or a must hit by $500 at $498 at all analogous to observing someone drop a $20 bill. I think a more comparable scenario would be finding a $20 bill in the third stall of the restroom, and you have no idea who left it there or how long it’s been there.
I fully agree, Kevin. The person who asked the question in the first place was either being purposely provocative or is severely morally challenged. It’s not even close. Even if you are broke and need the money, and subsequently decide not to alert the person, it doesn’t change the fact that what you did was wrong. I also think it is important to point out that one should not alert the person in order to either receive good luck or avoid bad luck. It’s the right thing to do. End of story. Check please.
A few months ago, Nicholas Colon wrote a post questioning the moral fiber of poker players. That and this post remind me of a situation a friend of mine reiterated to me a few weeks ago. He was playing poker in a casino that had a high-hand jackpot when in a particular hand he was heads up and got a straight flush draw on the turn. The pot had not reach the required $20 so my friend bet $10 and asked his opponent to call so he could see the river. She refused, claiming that “no one ever gives the money back.” Wow, I thought, what a “JO” she was.
However, after the hand, my friend explained a conversation he got into with a few other players at the table that I found very interesting and telling.
The conversation centered around the simple question as to whether my friend would be obligated to give the lady back the $10 had she complied and called the bet AND he did not hit the high hand. I don’t claim to be a moral giant but quite honestly I was shocked that my friend, who I always believed to be a nice guy of at least average intelligence, would even question that. “OF COURSE YOU SHOULD!,” I kind of shouted. “The lady would have been doing you a favor by giving you a chance to hit the high hand. She gets the $10 back no matter what.” Finally, as if talking to a child, in an attempt to further drive home my point I used an analogy. I say to my friend, “if I borrow $20 from you to play the lottery, and I DON’T win the lottery, I’m sure you would expect me to pay you back the $20.”
Instantly after hearing the story my opinions of the woman, a substantial percentage of poker players, and my friend changed. The woman, who at first I didn’t think much of, gained my respect for having a “read” on her opponents that went way beyond what hands they might be holding.Thanks to her, I will now go out of my way to make sure that this unwritten rule is understood by my table mates before helping someone get a high hand. As for my friend, I feel he got what he deserved when the woman refused to help out and sadly I now suspect what he most likely will do when someone inadvertently drops money near him. To paraphrase Micheal Corleone from The Godfather, “keep your friends close and you money deep inside your pockets.”
My wife and I were playing VP next to an older woman who got up and left. Soon after it was noticed she had dropped cash on floor. We did not touch it but called the slot attendant who turned it over to security.. Security tracked her down and returned her $600 to her. She came back later to play some more and mentioned she did not know how she dropped the money. Not once did she thank anybody. My conscience is clear, but she pissed off the other people that were sitting in that row. There were a few comments about she had better not drop anymore.
I travel to Las Vegas quite often for business, over 100 trips in the past 15 years. Three times I have found wallets and all three times I turned them in to security without taking a dollar. One had so much money in it rubber bands were needed to keep it closed. Found that one in the hallway between Paris and Bally’s. Literally dozens of people, if not hundreds, walked by and never noticed it.
At the Trop a couple years ago I had just entered a bathroom stall and was sitting on the toilet. Someone started banging on the door! Occupied I said back. The guy asks if there is a money clip laying on the toilet paper dispenser? Sure enough, I hadn’t been there long enough to notice it. Probably over a grand and a nice gold coin clip! I handed it back to him and he was very relieved! He tried to offer me money as a reward for my honesty. I refused but asked him to make a donation in my honor to his favorite church or charity. He agreed. I hope he did.
I am a Senior Citizen and could have made good use of all that money. But I will live my remaining life guilt free and thanking my Mom for teaching me lessons in honesty early in life.
I believe in doing the right thing. At the Suncoast, I went up to the ticket redemption machine and there was a $100 bill in the dispenser. I put it up above the keyboard, cashed my ticket – taking time and when no one appeared, I took the bill and stood off to the side watching. After a few minutes three people returned to the machine looking frantic. They were saying things like, “I thought you took it, no you put in the ticket, etc.” I walked up to them and asked them if they lost anything and then handed them the money”. They were very grateful.
At another redemption machine at the Rampart a woman in front of me cashed a ticket and left. I put in my ticket but before I received my money, I noticed that there was a $20 in the tray. I saw the woman about 20 ft away walking off but couldn’t leave the machine to tell her, since my money had not been dispensed. After collecting my money, I looked all over the casino for her but couldn’t find her. I felt really bad for not yelling out at the moment I saw her money, but didn’t think of it for some reason.
Last month I was playing on a bank of machines with one guy playing two machines from me. He got up and went somewhere. I did not see his face or where he went. Right after he left his machine started beeping because he had not taken his ticket after hitting the cash-out button. I took the ticket ($100+) out to stop the beeping and held it while I continued to play. The guy came back after about 30 minutes looking for the ticket. I asked if he was looking for a ticket and then gave it to him. It would have been easy to put it in my pocket but it would have certainly wrong to do so. Every player here should also realize that there are cameras recording everything you do in the casinos.
I agree with Keven and the others.
A Boy Scout is trustworthy……
As an ex-casino employee I can tell you that in Ohio and likely most other jurisdictions that it is “technically” illegal to keep anything found in a casino. There’s no min. amount for stealing from a casino for the crime to be considered a federal offense, this includes tickets and money on machines or in the floor. The casino most likely won’t do anything if the amount is under a buck or 2, but anything above that would be doing so at your own risk. On a January Vegas trip I walked up to a ticket cashing machine in the Wynn and thought someone left a few ones hanging out of the machine. I pulled out the money and under the ones were seven $100 bills! I immediately held the money up for the cameras and notified a slot attendant ( proper procedure for large $). After reviewing the cameras they discovered that a local player had grabbed their change and forgot to grab the bills! They were already gone for the day but the casino said thanks and that they would be sure to get the money back to the owner. ALWAYS do the right thing
I would be the first one running after someone to return their money if they dropped it.
But what if the person losing the money is actually the casino? change anything?
This just happened to me; I know it is wrong, but somehow don’t feel too guilty.
I went up to the counter at a Vegas Sports Book, asked for a $20 bet on team A. Paid my $20,
Before I left the counter I noticed the ticket was for $26 and to win $20. I didn’t say anything, just left.
The ticket won and I collected $46.
I don’t know if the employee is on the hook for the extra winnings (assuming it is his mistake) or the casino.
I would feel bad if the employee got into trouble. but if the casino is just out $6, I don’t feel so bad.
1st or 2nd trip to Vegas, we were standing behind some VERY drunk men at a blackjack table at Casino Royale (Sunday morning, about 9am). A friend noticed a couple of $100 bills under one of them, and politely asked these guys if it was theirs. They couldn’t have been more thankful. When he sat down at the table to play, these guys kept throwing extra chips on top of his bet. After these men stumbled away, a security guard came over, extended his hand, and thanked my friend, saying he’d never seen such generosity; that most people would have figured out how to “take” the money.
Instead of having that weigh on his conscience for 15+ years, my friend got some of the money returned as a reward by these guys, and a story that we (and probably that security guard) rehash over and over…
The beautiful bliss of constant kind acts notwithstanding, Jerry, I have a problem with your assessment. What you seem to be saying is that the created (us) were created by said Creator innately unkind and that all our kind acts are controlled by Him or Her. Why would an all good and all-loving Creator NOT just create us innately kind from the beginning? And, if He or She controls all our actions, why do unkind acts exist at all?
I’m a horseplayer, and I use the self-service machines to place my bets. One day, at Turf Paradise, I went to a machine to insert my voucher, and noticed a voucher for about$150 was left in the machine. I took it out, put mine in and bet, and just waited a few minutes. My son was with me, and I told him how we’d identify the rightful owner of the money. Sure, enough, a few minutes later, a man walked up to the machine, in a frantic state. When I asked him if he’d left something and he told me a voucher for “about $150,” I knew I’d found the rightful owner. He thanked me profusely, and I felt good about what I had done, which surely was the right thing to do. I think my son learned a good lesson that day, too!
I had just sat down and put a $100 bill in a slot machine in Vegas, a couple of minutes later a cocktail waitress picked up a $100 bill off the floor and asked me if it was mine. I counted my money and found it was in fact mine and she just handed it back and walked away, not even giving me a chance to tip her.
I made a sports bet last year at the Flamingo and when I received my change I noticed the clerk gave me an extra $20. When I told him about the extra $20 he thanked me and appeared to be surprised that someone would do this. As I was about to walk away he gave me 2 free drink coupons. I was getting ready to fly out so passed these on to a group of guys who just got into town. I knew if his drawer came up short he would be responsible for it. Plus, it gave me a chance to pass on a little good karma on to the next guy(s).
I had a similar situation occur at Ballys Las Vegas last year. I sat down and played 3 card poker for an hour. Got up to leave and before I got to the door, I noticed that my $300+ sunglasses were not in my pocket. I reversed my tracks and they were nowhere to be found. Asked the dealer at the table and she said she hadn’t seen them and told me to run by the security desk. Went over and sure enough, some unknown person had picked them up off the floor and turned them in. I was amazed to get them back and grateful to whoever it was.
Many stories about people finding money, mine is about loosing money. About 30+ years ago I lost my money clip in a casino with $400+. A considerable amount for me at the time. I realized it when I tried to play at a different casino 10 miles away. I rushed back went to security and, to my surprise and relief, someone had turned it in. I asked if they had any record of who might have done such a good deed, Security said yes and that person is staying in the casino for the night. I requested that they page him. I assumed it was a him. To my surprise that person turned out to be a young lady carrying a baby in her arms. I don’t know but I suspect that the $400 meant more to her than me. After many refusals she finally agreed to accept the %10 finders fee that I offered her.
The casino was what today is Fiesta Henderson. It was called something else back then.
I agree with many of posts especially Kevin Lewis. If you have to ask or you hesitate about what you should do when you see someone drops or leaves money on a machine, you are morally compromised. Whether your are rich or poor, Sound moral principles makes no distinction between being rich or poor. Kevin said it best “It isn’t yours, and you know who it belongs to, What’s the problem?” It is just the right and decent thing to do, return the money period; no debate and no rationalization on why you should keep it.
A few years ago I came upon a slot machine with $500 in credits – as attempting as it was to sit down and cash it out, I called over an employee. She was very appreciative & said the rightful owner hopefully will be located. I know I did the right thing.
That is correct – you could be barred from the casino if you took the money. I usually hit the attendant button and went from there.
A couple of weeks ago I went to the ‘new’ Tropicana. I put a $100 bill into a video poker machine and then put in my M players card. After several attempts the card would not register. I got up and put the card into another machine with the same result. Disgusted I walked off to the players club, got in line and eventually a new card was issued to me. I wandered back into the casino and saw that my original video poker machine was still available. I sat down and the elderly couple next to me spoke up and wondered aloud whether or not I would return. I asked why and they pointed to the machine which still had $100 registered in it. I had been gone for well over 15 minutes and hadn’t even realized that I had left my money in the machine. I thanked the couple for watching over the machine. We played for several minutes and exchanged pleasantries. Eventually they got up to leave. I cashed out $70 and handed over the ticket to the couple. They refused but I insisted. I had felt as if I had won an unexpected $100 and they certainly deserved something for their honesty. After several protestations they finally agreed to take the ticket and everyone felt good about the outcome
My wife found a wallet on the casino floor at the Las Vegas Hilton (yes, it’s been awhile) and brought it directly to the change booth that was right by the stairs coming from the little coffee bar. As she came up to the booth with the wallet, a man came up to ask if a wallet had been found. He verified his name and address and they gave him the wallet. The change person told him my wife had found it and returned it. He DIDN’T even say thank you. Although she was disappointed that this guy couldn’t have at least been appreciative for the return of his wallet, she knows how she would felt if she had lost her purse or clutch and it hadn’t been turned in. Best to do the right thing, even if it isn’t appreciated.
A nice gesture for a good deed.
Once years ago at the Magic Kingdom in Disneyworld, I left a $500 camera on the table that we were eating at. I realized immediately and was back at the table in a minute or two. Table was clean, no camera. People at the next table said the cleaning crew took it. I went to the counter, asked for the manager and told him what happened and asked for the camera. He goes away for a while, comes back and says no one has it. I tell him I have witnesses who saw the crew pick it up and am not leaving till i get it. He goes in the back and presto has my camera.