Ethical dilemmas what would you do?

[ua_guy]

A money clip could change my answer, but I'd also have to trust a store employee to not pocket the cash. Better me than them The rightful owner would likely be able to describe the money clip to validate that it was indeed his.

Cash is borderline, IMO... I'm not sure anyone would turn in my cash if I dropped it. If I found a large sum, that could also change my answer, although depending on how much I might report it to an officer just so it's officially documented.

[disneysteve]

Cash is borderline, IMO... I'm not sure anyone would turn in my cash if I dropped it. If I found a large sum, that could also change my answer, although depending on how much I might report it to an officer just so it's officially documented.

Exactly. If I found a $20 bill on the street, I'd stick it in my pocket and go on my way. But if I found an envelope with $1,000 on the street, would I do the same thing?

How about the Brinks truck example? If I'm there when it happens, I would consider it theft to pick up the money and run. But what if I'm walking down that street the next day and happen to spy a couple of $20 bills that got lodged behind a planter in front of a store? Do I stick them in my pocket or do I go home and call the armored car company? It's the exact same money from the same source but how you would respond may differ.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Good scenarios by disneysteve. The money clip I would give it to the cashier. The person who lost it might return. Also if I found $100 under the booth at a restaurant I would give it to the waitress. The patron might return or may not return in which case the waitress would probably keep it but she makes minimum wage plus tips so she needs it more than I do and no big deal to me. For the Brinks truck if the next day I find some $20 bills lodged behind a planter I would call the cops and have them deal with it. Later that night I don't want to see myself on ABC Nightly News with David Muir on the I-10 traffic cam asking the public if they seen that guy picking up the loot, lol.

[Fishindude77]

If you have questions or guilt about finding money you can always just give it away to a needy person or cause.
You didn't get it back to the original owner (which would be tough to determine), but you've done something good with it.

[myrdale]

How about if the $100 on the floor was actually five $20 bills in a nice money clip? Would that change your answer?

This is funny, because my gut answer is yes. If I found it in a wallet with out an ID, still probably yes. If it was a rubber band? Probably no.

[myrdale]

Also if I found $100 under the booth at a restaurant I would give it to the waitress.

I would not consider this to be found money at all. The assumption is that it was either a tip, or was dropped by the individual sitting at that table while paying the bill. If the table hadn't been cleared, I'd place it on the table. If it had it'd go to the waitress who handled that table or I guess I could live as an additional tip on my table assuming it's the same girl =)

[QuarterMillionMan]

There's actually a relatively new version of this in casinos. A few years ago when there was a big shortage of change, the casinos stopped paying out coins from the ticket redemption machines. If you walked away from a slot machine before with $24.73, you put your ticket in the redemption machine and got $24.73. Now, you get $24 and a new ticket for $0.73. The only way to get the change is to go to the cashier window which many people don't bother doing. They may leave the tickets with random bits of change on them lying around, next to a machine, or whatever. However, the casinos consider it theft for anyone to pick up and use or redeem those tickets so the casino never has to pay out that money, which seems like theft on their part. I have been to a couple of casinos that have a big donation bin near the front door. You can drop your ticket it there and the money gets donated to some charity. I also see the restaurants at the casino having tip jars where people drop the tickets.

3 or 4 years ago when coin shortages were common the casinos changed how it gives change. Yes you can get exact change at the casino cage. But at the kiosks some still gives change. But some only spits out a ticket for loose change in the exact amount and you have to either play it in a penny slot or take it to the cage for exact change. For instance you insert a ticket for $37.71, it'll dispense $37 in cash and the remainder of .71 cents is dispensed as a ticket for .71 cents which you have to play it at a penny machine, take it to the cashier for the .71 cents in loose change, or donate it to the tribe.. At yet other casinos such as Jamul casino let's say you have a ticket for $37.71, it'll give $37 in cash then a pop-up screen will ask if you want to donate the remander of .71 cents to the tribe. If you decline it will spit out a penny and the remainder .70 cents is dispensed as a ticket which you either have to play it or take it to the cashier for exact change. Or they have those clear raffle type bins which you can donate your ticket which often is filled with tickets of small amounts (ie, .10 cents, .20 cents, etc).

[QuarterMillionMan]

I'm currently in Las Vegas for the weekend. Would you correct a blackjack dealer if you were over paid? I placed a $25 matchplay promotional chip in the circle along with $25 cash. The male dealer asked the male pit boss what the $25 promotional chip was and the boss told him a $25 promotional matchplay chip. The dealer put it back down in the circle and exchanged my $25 cash with a green chip and a $5 red chip. For those unfamiliar with casino chips green chips are worth $25 and red chips are worth $5. I had 6 & 6. He had a 3 showing, his hole card was a king. I stood and he hit for himself and got a ten and busted so I won. He paid me with another 2 green chips and 1 red chip and removed the $25 promotional matchplay chip. The pit boss was watching the entire time but didn't catch the dealer's mistake so I grabbed my chips and thanked the boss & dealer and cashed out. If you caught the dealer's mistake you were paying attention. Would you have given back the extra 2 red chips?

[kork13]

I'm currently in Las Vegas for the weekend. Would you correct a blackjack dealer if you were over paid? I placed a $25 matchplay promotional chip in the circle along with $25 cash. The male dealer asked the male pit boss what the $25 promotional chip was and the boss told him a $25 promotional matchplay chip. The dealer put it back down in the circle and exchanged my $25 cash with a green chip and a $5 red chip. For those unfamiliar with casino chips green chips are worth $25 and red chips are worth $5. I had 6 & 6. He had a 3 showing, his hole card was a king. I stood and he hit for himself and got a ten and busted so I won. He paid me with another 2 green chips and 1 red chip and removed the $25 promotional matchplay chip. The pit boss was watching the entire time but didn't catch the dealer's mistake so I grabbed my chips and thanked the boss & dealer and cashed out. If you caught the dealer's mistake you were paying attention. Would you have given back the extra 2 red chips?

I'll caveat that I'm not a gambler, so I've never really been in the situation to know .... But I expect that I probably would out of habit, if I noticed it immediately. "Oh, hey, it's only $25, you gave me this one extra". That said, if I only realized it later on, I probably wouldn't bother with trying to correct it. Goes back to my original philosophy of "If it's easy to fix & get it to the right person, I'll do that. If impractical, likely not worth it."

[disneysteve]

If you caught the dealer's mistake you were paying attention. Would you have given back the extra 2 red chips?

I would not correct a mistake in my favor but I'm quick to correct them if they underpay me.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Las Vegas Advisor newsletter QOD *question of the day."

[myrdale]

Las Vegas Advisor newsletter QOD *question of the day."

I don't frequent casinos, but this is a situation technology should be able to solve easily.

An ID card worn on a lanyard around the neck equipped with a NFC chip and a pin code required to start the machine, and time the machine out after some period of non-use. The player's winnings (or losses) are monitored and stored.

But honestly though, at some point people have to be responsible for their own actions. I equate this to locking your keys in your car. Could it happen to me? Sure. Has it ever happened to me? No. Every time, I mean EVERY TIME i turn the truck off, I take a moment to retrieve my keys. Closing the garage door, I always stop and confirm it is down. Similarly for turning off the stove. These silly little rituals eliminate my anxiety after the fact for it I did this thing or that. On one occasion I left my debt card at IHOP, and another occasion I left a jacket at the barber shop. So yes I can forget things.

I wonder how much of this abandoned money was alcohol related?

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I'm currently in Las Vegas for the weekend. Would you correct a blackjack dealer if you were over paid? I placed a $25 matchplay promotional chip in the circle along with $25 cash. The male dealer asked the male pit boss what the $25 promotional chip was and the boss told him a $25 promotional matchplay chip. The dealer put it back down in the circle and exchanged my $25 cash with a green chip and a $5 red chip. For those unfamiliar with casino chips green chips are worth $25 and red chips are worth $5. I had 6 & 6. He had a 3 showing, his hole card was a king. I stood and he hit for himself and got a ten and busted so I won. He paid me with another 2 green chips and 1 red chip and removed the $25 promotional matchplay chip. The pit boss was watching the entire time but didn't catch the dealer's mistake so I grabbed my chips and thanked the boss & dealer and cashed out. If you caught the dealer's mistake you were paying attention. Would you have given back the extra 2 red chips?

I don't get it. This is probably why I shouldn't be gambling. I don't get this promotional deal. Why did you get a $5 red chip?

I also don't get how do they know if you won at the tables big like above the number you need to report?

[QuarterMillionMan]

The dealer made a mistake giving me a red chip. Then when I won the dealer had to pay out another red chip. All wins above $1200 requires a W2-G.

[james.hendrickson]

In general, my thought process is that if it's reasonably feasible to get the money returned to it's rightful owner, I'll try to do that. Similarly, if it's a situation where the rightful owner would find you (like the bank in your #2 example, or an employer like in my story below). But if it's totally anonymous with no expectation of being able to really get it back to its owner, I'd be more inclined to either just keep it, give it away to someone, or turn it in somewhere.

I'm with Kork on this one - if you can identify the owner of the property, you should make an effort to return the property to them. However, if you can't identify the owner, its totally legitimate to turn it in or in some cases keep it. For example, in the case of the $100 on the floor, I'd turn it in. However, if its a nickel you found on the ground, you can probably safely keep that.