Didn't Win at the Slots? Sue Them!

So many people probably don’t realize that the money that is left in the trays at the slot machines – those that still give out actual cash – is the property of the casino once the player moves away from the machine. If they return to the slot machine within a decent amount of time, the money will be returned to them. However, many people think that “finders-keepers” is the way of the slot machine world and they would be incorrect.

How many times have you walked up to a slot machine, or even looked in several of them as you were walking by and seen a stray quarter, etc. just sitting there? With no one around to claim it you probably even picked it up. Heaven help you if the casino employees had seen you do it!

Stella Romanski found out the hard way that you shouldn’t take what isn’t yours. She found a nickel in a slot machine tray and took it. Casino security allegedly accosted her and took her to an interview room where she was kept until they finally allowed her to go to the restroom. Supposedly she was joined in the stall by a security officer, and then was released to the outside of the casino where she had to wait in the hot sun for two hours waiting for her bus to take her back home.

Obviously she hired an attorney and she sued the casino. The judge and jury found for her to the tune of more than $850,000. They said that there was a false arrest involved as well as a civil rights claim and awarded her a huge chunk of change.

The casino maintains that they did take her to the room, but they did not accompany her in the stall, nor did they send her out into the heat to wait for a bus. It seems to me that a little old woman taking a nickel out of a slot machine is really a very little deal. However, the casino made it the most valuable nickel ever.


 

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