So this just happened when I was getting out of my car tonight at the casino. Found a 500 dollar chip in parking lot right as I opened my car door and walked back. I need to return it because I would be devastated if I was the one who lost it, and I know how karma works. also I feel like if I give it to the casino they will just keep it and it won’t get back to the rightful owner. Anyone have advice?

Talk to a manager, preferably one you trust. Security cameras might not be able to detect a chip falling to the ground near parked cars. And management might not be willing to review that footage anyway.

A guy I play with lost a change purse with $900 in it after he cashed out one night. Card room management reviewed the footage of his progress from the table to the cage to the door, and confirmed that he didn't drop anything inside the card room. But they were unwilling to review footage of him walking outside to his car.

Personally, I would keep the chip. What's to stop manager A from saying, "Oh, yeah, my good friend dealer B said he lost a chip last night"? The chances of this chip ever being returned to the person who lost it seem slim to me.

Once I found a $5 chip on the sidewalk outside a card room, and I kept it. Another time I found a wallet with a foreign passport and about $300 in it on the sidewalk of a busy street in San Francisco. There was no local address or phone number, so I posted an ad on Craigslist, and the aunt of the young woman who'd lost the wallet (who didn't even speak English) responded within an hour or two. I didn't specify the name or country of origin in my ad, so it was easy enough to verify the rightful owner.

Maybe your benevolent actions in a previous existence earned you this good fortune. That's how karma works, actually.

I believe most casinos have a policy where if a patron finds money/chips and turns them in to security, they will try to find the rightful owner. If the rightful owner doesn't come forward in a certain amount of time, the finder gets it. I know it works that way in my casino.

OP u may be devastated if u lost a 500 but the owner might be some hard core rich degen who didn’t even notice he lost one of his 500

If you don’t trust casino staff and you feel all altruistic put the 500 on black /red . if u win pocket 500 and give 500 to a charity . Pretty sure u lose 0 karma for that

Laws covering lost and mislaid items vary by state. Generally you should file a report with the casino telling them you found a chip in the parking lot, and if no one makes a claim on it within some number of days (usually 90), it becomes yours. If you don't trust the casino, you could try reporting it to the police instead.

Pretty quick thread ... not much else to offer except the usual banter about "How much is 'enough' to turn in and/or keep?" What would you do with a $25 chip? Should it make a difference because it's $500?

Within most casinos there is a size of chip that will start to get you noticed, but I doubt $500 is that level where you would look out of place trying to cash it in or get it broke down so you can play Blackjack or something with it. It's very common for 'Regs' to walk up to a table and have a large chip broken down for them. The Dealer may announce it to the pit boss, but it's nothing unusual to the staff.

There's zero chance that if I checked into the poker room and tossed over a $500 chip that it would even cause a blink to get it cut down to red so I could sit down and start playing.

So the issue comes right back to what you are comfortable with and how you will feel in the short term once you make a decision. As others have said, $500 appears to be a lot to you but may be undetected by another ... especially if they were drunk or a high roller type who may not keep exact count on what's in their pocket.

If you are a Reg at this casino then find a Floor that you trust and talk 'in general' about the situation and how it will be handled on their end and go from there.

I've also seen more casino have a box at the doors where Players can put their uncashed slot tickets into for charity. If this is the case at this one then just drop the chip in the box and it's all done from there!! GL

just donate 400$ to charity and keep 100$ for your time doing some work

Put it in play and try to run up some cash then return original 500 to the casino.

Put it on red

So the parking lot is kind of a weird situation, but I would assume this is the same as in the casino itself. I know where I play, if you find a chip on the ground in the casino, it's not just fair game. That chip is considered casino property. If security somehow is watching when you pick it up, they can come after you to regain their property.

This almost never comes into play. The most likely situation for this is if someone knows specifically where they dropped it and security is willing to help them by going to the camera to see where they dropped it and to see who picked it up.

But, for example, in our poker room, a regular dropped two $500 chips from his pocket as he took something else out of his pocket and didn't notice it (at least not until about an hour later when he went to rebuy with the purples). They were on the ground between his chair (seat 3) and a chair from the next table behind him (seat 7 on the other table). At some point, seat 7 from the other table backed up, saw the chips, and put them in his pocket. 5 minutes later he cashed out and left. They went to the cameras and saw the whole thing. Seat 7 was using his players card for a promotion in the poker room at the time. They had his name, his address, and all his info. They had his phone number and security called him and told him they knew of the theft. He would be banned from the casino unless he came back and returned the chips in the next 24 hours. Apparently, the casino would not go after him to return the money (the player would have the right to file a police report), but they did ban him from the casino and he'd be charged with trespassing if he came back into the casino without repaying the money. (or at least I think that's how the story went)

Bring it with you the next time you go to the casino and then cash it out when you next cash out. Finders keepers losers weepers. And keep your mouth shut about it.

Years back I found a fur coat with 8000+ in chips in the pocket, after a huge group fight broke out. Ten years later I am still waiting for my good karma reimbursement.

Dude, just keep it. It would be more of a hassle trying to find the rightful owner. Which in this case, would be near impossible. Cops will steal it or the casino won't do anything about it. Just look at it as a gift from God. Take your wife/gf out to a nice dinner, donate some to charity, or buy some partial BC with it.

Find someone like me who doesn't give a **** about karma and give it to them. If you really found it in the parking lot, there is zero chance the chip gets back to its rightful owner if you turn it in. If you found it in the casino, turn it in to security or get what you get.

If you feel that bad about it, just call security and tell them anonymously you found the chip in the parking lot, and if anyone reported the lost chip. See how they react, then you will know what your next step is. I can bet the owner isn't "devastated" that they lost it or they wouldn't be gambling in the first place (and would have cashed it in before leaving).

Yeah this...if the money meant THAT much they would’ve cashed out the chip before leaving

I would take it, with the key deterimanent being there's no reasonable expectation of finding the original owner.

The 2ould have cashed it in comment might be correct. But the or they would not be gambling comment is oh so wrong. Plenty of people who can’t afford it still gamble far beyond their means. I had a friend who committed suicide after he lost everything and then some.

Obviously not to make light of the situation, but would someone turning in a single chip that they dropped have changed their situation at all?

As a former floor supervisor, if a chip was on the floor, I would pick it up and lock it up in the rack. I would also call surveillance to see if they could see who was sitting there or who may have dropped it.

99.9% of the time, no one came to claim the money and we just kept it, which is what will likely happen in your situation.

Do whatever you feel is best. I'd keep it and take my wife out / donate some to charity.


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Agreed, this is not the forum to get into particulars but you are correct for him, after losing 7 figures and being broke a single $500 chip would not have changed anything.

But I have also been at a table where a young man was literally trying make the rent, water and electric bills. He won a big pot and his wife/GF first tried to take money off the table and when told she could not do that pretty much begged him to quit.

I changed tables as I did not want to see him get busted much less be the one to do it (it was pretty much inevitable to happen.) I saw them leaving later w/o stopping to cash out as there was nothing to cash out.

For them, yes that single chip would have been a big deal. There are PLENTY of people gambling and losing $'s they have no business risking.

About 15 years ago, I was playing with a kid at Binions, of all places, as he proceeded to lose his and his SO's tuition money, rent money, etc all the while being constantly on the phone with her, telling her "I am just on my way; will be home soon" over and over...

Seems appropriate

I found a 25.00 chip years ago and it wasn't life changing $. So no need to return it. Thing was it wasn't even in the parking lot. The chip was on the casino carpet with tons of videos rolling. Walked out with no security running after me. Would do the same if I found 500 chip. The person who lost it will be more careful next time.

Because no one saw you pick it up. Otherwise your story would be different. I once had a player claim that I must have forgot to give him his change or something because he was missing $50. After a count I was sure it wasn't my mistake so I went to surveillance to watch some video. Clearly saw cash fall out of his hoodie pocket while he was taking his phone out. After he leaves, I can see two 20's and a 10 on the floor. Little while later some other person stops to pick it up and put it in their pocket. Identified the person and next time he was on property security had a chat with him. Either cough up the $50 or leave and never come back. If he hadn't coughed it up, his info would have been given to the police if the person that dropped the money decided to file a report.