• Home
• News
• Local News
• Atlantic City

ATLANTIC CITY — Check your wallets, your purses and your pants pockets. Unclaimed riches are out there — more than $12 million worth of slot machine vouchers and keno tickets that have never been cashed in.

This is money that casino gamblers have already won. Perhaps they have forgotten to redeem the vouchers. Perhaps they have been lost or misplaced. Or there could be another reason.

“A lot of people just didn’t bother to get the cash,” said Daniel Heneghan, a spokesman for the New Jersey Casino Control Commission.

While the thought of millions of dollars in unclaimed slot winnings is enticing, the fact is that most of the vouchers are for very small amounts, often less than $1, Heneghan noted.

But altogether, the unredeemed vouchers amount to a $12.4 million windfall. And the casinos and the state are now closer to getting the riches that customers do not seem to want.

In the past week, the Casino Control Commission approved a new regulation that sets up a one-year deadline for redeeming slot vouchers and keno tickets. Previously, customers had unlimited time to cash them in.

All vouchers dated prior to April 8, 2009, must be redeemed by April 8, 2010. All vouchers after April 8, 2009, will be on a one-year anniversary date. April 8, 2009, is the trigger date because that was when the state Legislature changed the law to create the deadline. The commission had to adopt formal regulations for the deadline to go into effect.

Under the new regulations, the casinos and the state will get a 50-50 split of the unclaimed slot and keno winnings that have been building up prior to April 8, 2009, meaning the $12.4 million windfall.

For unclaimed winnings after that date, the casinos will receive a 75 percent cut and the state 25 percent. Money kept by the state will go to the New Jersey Casino Revenue Fund, which finances social programs for senior citizens and disabled residents.

“Casinos were making the argument that it was their money. I made the argument that it was the patrons’ money and the state’s,” Casino Control Commission Chair Linda M. Kassekert said.

Exactly how much money each casino will receive will be kept secret. Heneghan said the amounts are considered proprietary and will not be divulged by the commission

Joseph A. Corbo Jr., president of the Casino Association of New Jersey, the trade group representing Atlantic City’s gaming industry, said the unclaimed vouchers “had to be dealt with” because they continued to accumulate.

“The Legislature, in coordination with our regulators, decided to address this in a manner that was reasonable and equitable, given the circumstances,” Corbo said in a statement. “Part of this was to help preserve the Casino Revenue Fund.”

Corbo also noted that the new law requires casinos to post signs that notify customers of the expiration dates.

Casino officials say New Jersey’s handling of unredeemed slot vouchers will now be consistent with other gaming jurisdictions and similar to the time restrictions for retail gift cards or certificates.

Slot vouchers are a relatively new phenomenon. Old-style slot machines paid off jackpots in an avalanche of coins that poured into the metal collection trays. But in the past six years or so, Atlantic City’s casino floors have been revolutionized by a new generation of “ticket in/ticket out” machines that spit out paper vouchers that must be redeemed for cash.

Although slot vouchers and keno tickets now have a redemption deadline, other types of unclaimed winnings do not. They include gaming chips, gaming plaques, slot tokens, jackpot payout receipts, receipts for table games, tournament or bad beat payouts, winning pari-mutuel tickets and simulcasting credit vouchers.

Kassekert explained that slot vouchers and keno tickets are being treated differently because they are computerized and much easier to track than gaming chips and the other types of winnings exempted from the one-year deadline.

Contact Donald Wittkowski:

609-272-7258

DWittkowski@pressofac.com

2 comments:

• zebra2 (86) posts 9:21 am

  I don't see any reason why the state should have a hand in it. If people are not smart enough to cash in their winnings than it should go back to where it came from... The casinos!

• Nikynewark (75) posts 1:43 pm

  I fail to see how the casino should get a nickel of unclaimed funds. If an insurance check is mailed to me but not received or cashed it goes to the state, NOT BACK TO THE INSURANCE COMPANY! Clearly the tale is wagging the dog.

PressofAtlanticCity.com offers everyone the opportunity to comment on published stories. However, it is impractical for editors to screen all comments.
If you believe a comment is offensive, please click on the abuse-reporting link and your objection will be considered by an editor. We encourage participants to use their real names, but inoffensive screen names are acceptable. Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them.
Please post responsibly. Do not post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy.
Be polite. Don’t hate. Users who don’t play by the rules may be blocked from participating.

View our full terms of service and privacy agreement

Click here to report a comment as abusive.

You must login to post a new comment