It is against the law in Colorado to pick up an abandoned casino ticket and cash it in, or play with credits left unused on a slot machine.
The law is not widely known and it is even less widely advertised that the state’s casinos for several years have worked with law enforcement to prosecute such cases. However, Fox 31 Denver recently examined court records computer database, as well as requested court documents, and found that since 2012 more than 700 cases in Black Hawk and Central City and 200 in Cripple Creek were cited or arrested under a Colorado law.
The violations ranged from playing credits left by another player on a slot machine, cashing in found ticket vouchers as well as dropped chips. The casinos go after such violations because anything left abandoned belongs to the casino. It is definitely not a matter of finder’s keepers.
Of course, miscreants who have committed what most people would consider criminal acts, such as cheating at roulette, were also included in those statistics.
At the same time casinos don’t want to advertise that they are willing to jail their customers for picking up a slot machine ticket and cashing it in, which is defined as misdemeanor fraud. Fox interviewed a man it ID’s as “Dan,” who was hustled upstairs at Johnny Z’s Casino in Central City for playing a $2 credit left on a machine, which was caught on camera. He later plead guilty to misdemeanor fraud to avoid jail time, although he had to pay a fine, be on probation and do community service. He was also banned from all casinos in the state for a year. Not that he ever would, he says. He will never play at the casino that nipped him ever again, he vows.
Fox also interviewed a Denver attorney, Terry O’Malley, who considers what the casinos do to be entrapment. He is representing several such persons, including one who found a chip on the floor and another who stumbled across a ticket voucher. Most people who operate under the ordinary rules that if you find something it’s yours, are surprised to find that casinos don’t look at it that way, he says.
O’Malley said, “You find a dollar on the sidewalk out front, you’re OK. You find a $5 bill, you can celebrate and go have a hamburger. But if you find it inside of a casino? You may be heading to jail. For sure, you’re going to get charged with a criminal offense.”
The attorney believes that casino security wants to look like it’s doing its job. “That’s a suspicion I have as a defense attorney. They’re sitting there waiting for someone to come up and use that device and they’re going to make an arrest,” he said.
No signs warn patrons that they risk jail time and a hefty fine if they use an abandoned credit. Dan says he is amazed that casinos will risk creating bad blood between them and their customers over such trivial amounts.
No casinos Fox News asked for comments would speak about the issue. That was also true of state law enforcement officials, although they did release a statement that notes that Colorado casinos “are required to notify the Division of Gaming to respond to any incident involving fraudulent acts as defined by § 12-47.1-823, C.R.S. Specifically, § 12-47.1-823(1)(c), C.R.S., requires the Division to investigate cases involving fraudulent acts to provide consumer protection in situations where one patron’s money is taken by another patron.”
