I played today at Greektown Casino. Yes, Greektown has a lot of issues but I like their video poker selection and tolerate the other inconveniences.
Today, the Bonus Deuces Wild was at $1620 and I had about an hour before I had to be back to work so I decided to play a little. I managed to hit the royal for $1644.17. The machine showed $1646.17, the overhead display showed $1646.18. I didn't think the display could get ahead of the machine but it did.
About 12 minutes after I hit, an attendant came around, took my info and said it would be a few minutes since their computers were not working. 40 minutes later ( 52 minutes total), I finally got paid. Greektown now rounds up to the next dollar on progressives, which was nice. The lady who paid me was a different lady than who initially took my info. I was a little bothered that it took so long and that she didn't even say congrats or sorry for the wait. I tipped her $7. This is less than usual but I wasn't getting any great service either. After the tip, she did say "sorry for the wait" but it didn't seem very sincere.
I still has $120 in the machine so I played one more hand without a card and cashed out for $118.75. With voucher in hand, I was going to hit one more bank of machines when I noticed that with my W2, there was an invite to a jackpot party. I looked at that for a few seconds and then went walked another 15 steps when I realized I didn't have my voucher. About 75 seconds after I had cashed out my ticket, I could not find it. I thought I may have dropped it so I backtracked to the machine I was playing, looked around and didn't see it. I then went to a Greektown slot supervisor and told them what happened. I explained what had happened and we walked over to the machine I was playing to confirm the ticket number and amount.. Sheryl, the supervisor, took my info and said to wait and she would see what she could do.
She came back 10 minutes later and said the ticket was cashed but they were going to review the surveillance tape and see what happened and whether they can make any adjustment. The time between the ticket being dispensed from my machine and the ticket being cashed out was less than 2 minutes. She said they saw something on the surveillance tape but will need to do a full review.
Lessons learned:
-- new situations can cause errors. The combination of the long delay ( which was starting to bother me) plus seeing the new promotion for jackpots plus going to play another machine led to me losing the ticket. I should have put the ticket in my pocket even if I were going to play another machine in 2 minutes. I've lost a ticket one other time. I had an argument with my wife and stormed away with my $100 still in the machine. 45 seconds later it was gone. Distractions cause errors. The majority of my errors at VP come when I'm distracted.
-- I should have put my card back in to play the last hand. Even it would have made it a little easier for them to track since they would have had my info already.
-- Maybe it was a little payback karma for being light on the tip. In hindsight, a computer issue isn't the attendants fault. And the second lady did apologize for the delay ( after I handed her some cash).
Overall, I'm happy with how Sheryl handled the situation. It was my fault for not securing the ticket. And if the long wait bothered me, I should have taken a couple of deep breaths before racing on to the next play.
Also, if you drop a ticket or leave it behind, even if you immediately contact a casino supervisor, by the time they do the check for the number and amount, your ticket is probably gone.
Now, I have found quite a few tickets at casinos. If it is a quarter or a couple bucks, I just cash it out. If it is a larger amount, say $50, I will wait at the machine for 10 or 15 minutes to see if someone reclaims it. If so, I'd return it. I'm not convinced that turning the money into the casino is the right thing to do.
Next time I find a ticket for more than a few bucks, I will wait by the machine for 10 or 15 minutes. If no one claims it, I will wait until the next day to cash it. That way, if the person does come back, they can have the casino void the ticket and pay them.
If anyone works at a casino, I'd be interested in hearing any more details or opinions on lost tickets. My brother, who works for a local Indian casino, says the money goes to a fund for employee assistance ( if no one claims the ticket). I don't know if that is common or not.
All in all a good, but careless, day.
