Playing a found ticket

I am so freaked out. I am one of the most honest people you will ever meet. I went to a casino and had 20 dollars to play with I sat down with about $15 of it in one dollar bills, and next to me the machine was beeping loud and I saw a ticket in the machine. So I yanked it out, thinking it was probably a .02 center as usual, and laid it on top of the machine. It was $20.17. I laid it there in case the 'owner' came back and put a cup on it where the casino could see it and just let it sit there while I played my other $15.

Well, I didn't win anything and was waiting for a drawing. That ticket was becoming very tempting. I must have sat there about 15 minutes at least, with the ticket right there in the open. So I looked at it and yes, I SHOULD have contacted the security. But I didn't. I picked it up and walked out of the room and put it in another machine in another room. Then I cashed that out after about twenty minutes and played a while longer.

I went back in about 30 minutes to the machine where I'd found it and had $27 with me, thinking that if I saw someone I would give it to them but lost that also. Anyway, I wandered around and no one said anything and went back again today and still no one said anything.

What should I do? Should I go back and give the casino money? I made a huge mistake and feel horrible. What can they do? Will they still come after me? It's awful.

Please, do NOT use my real name, if you post this... Sign me: Ginger.

I am terrified.

Dear Ginger:

Please calm down. On the continuum of mistakes, yours is far from huge.

The right thing to do is to give the ticket to security or the cashier. Ticket usage can be traced. Hand in the ticket the next time you find one.

The amount involved is so small that it is unlikely the rightful owner is going to try to reclaim it now. After all, he or she didn't try to find the ticket the day of the loss.

I think you acted in a reasonable manner. You gave the person a reasonable length of time to claim the ticket. No one came to claim it, so I think the ticket can reasonably be considered to be abandoned.

You still should have turned in the ticket, but playing it was not a crime.

Best of luck in and out of the casinos,
John

Send your slot and video poker questions to John Robison, Slot Expert, at slotexpert@comcast.net. Because of the volume of mail I receive, I regret that I can't reply to every question.