Quote:
Originally Posted by psujohn
As I understand it the casino considers that a chip on the floor is their property. I don't know if they'll go to any effort to return a chip to it's owner.
IANAL.
I don't think your assertion about how a casino will treat the found chip is accurate, at least not in all, and probably not in most, cases. The legal constructs vary by jurisdiction.
In most US jurisdictions, the law describes a difference between lost, mislaid, and abandoned property, and how each is to be handled. "A finder of property acquires no rights in mislaid property, is entitled to possession of lost property against everyone except the true owner, and is entitled to keep abandoned property."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost,_...doned_property
A chip you find on the floor is almost certainly going to be classified as lost property in most jurisdictions. The law in your jurisdiction will generally indicate what you, as the finder, are required to do to in each case. If you simply pocket the money (lost property) without any attempt to find the rightful owner, you are generally committing "theft by finding" or some such.
Depending on your duty as the finder, you may be required to turn over the property to the owner of the establishment or to the local police. I don't know whether jurisdictions typically allow you to simply tell the owner that you found specific property, and let you retain physical possession of it while they look to see if they can find the true owner.
Depending on your jurisdiction, after a certain number of days elapses, if no one has filed a claim to the property, ownership of the found property will generally revert to the finder. Again, though, this varies by jurisdiction, and by the value of the found property, and by the type of property. Sometimes the jurisdiction might lay claim to it. Sometimes the owner of the establishment may get preferential treatment for title of the item.
But, in general, for money found in a public area of a business like a casino, if they cannot determine who the rightful owner is, after a given number of days the title for the lost item reverts to the finder.
Finally, you may not trust the casino to do the above. Obviously, I have no way to judge that. But my personal belief is that most casinos, being subject to strict licensing and auditing controls in many areas of operation and financial management, would likely have a process in place to adequately and legally proceed with claims like this in the proper manner.