would you tell a casino if they gave you too much change?

from canada

Casino Regina wants money back after $27,000 mistake
Heather Polischuk, Leader-Post
Published: Thursday, January 24, 2008

While many machines at Casino Regina are intended to offer patrons a payout now and again, the wrong machine was dishing out cash in October -- to the tune of $27,000 -- the Saskatchewan Gaming Corporation announced on Thursday.

On Oct. 26, an employee of Casino Regina accidentally loaded a self-redemption kiosk with a cassette containing $20 bills rather than $5 bills. Therefore, for the 1 1/2 days before the error was caught, whenever a patron went to redeem winnings or break a large bill, they got more than their actual money's worth.

While the SGC and the casino will not say how many people benefitted from the error, SGC president and CEO Marty Klyne said one person alone raked in about $11,000 throughout one day. That large sum was among the $13,400 the SGC has managed to recover, in part due to surveillance footage. An undisclosed number of other patrons who made off with the money have not yet been identified.

Rikki Bote, acting director of corporate affairs at Casinos Regina and Moose Jaw, shows five dollars bills that were supposed to be dispensed from a ticket redemption machine that gave out twenty dollar bills instead.

"There would have been a vast number of (patrons) that would have enjoyed the opportunity," he said, adding that transactions ranged from $300 to $11,000.

"I can't interpret what was going on in their minds at the time but you have to assume if you put in a $20 bill and you're expecting four fives back and you get four 20s, that your eyebrows might go up," Klyne said. "I think that if they put in a 20 and got two fives back, we would have heard about it pretty quickly."

The incident came to the attention of casino staff and the machine was shut down when a more honest patron reported the problem, having received $20 bills instead of the $5 bills she was expecting.

While the casino employee who incorrectly loaded the machine is reportedly not being sanctioned for the accident and continues to work at the casino, the SGC is taking steps against those who it says wrongfully took the extra money -- including the possibility of lawsuits. Those patrons who have already been identified have received exclusion bans from SGC properties, and police and legal counsel have been notified. The SGC is also continuing to work on locating the remainder of the wrongfully-obtained cash, Klyne said.

Regina Police Service spokeswoman Elizabeth Popowich confirmed police were called to the casino on Dec. 4 and are currently investigating the incident. Since the investigation is still in its early stages, Popowich said police have not yet determined what, if any, offence has occurred.

In the meantime, Klyne said steps have been taken to insure the situation will not occur again, such as permanently labelling bill cassettes through colour coding.

A spokeswoman for the SGC said the incident was not reported to the public until now because the corporation made its quarterly report -- which included October's wrongful payouts -- to the provincial auditor only this month. The SGC was also completing an intensive internal security investigation during those months, she added.

Klyne said about $4 million moves through the property each day. Between Casinos Regina and Moose Jaw, the SGC made a profit of almost $35 million last year.

hpolischuk@leaderpost.canwest.com

why would they worry, they should know they'l be getting it back

Nope. Not a goddamn cent.