BREAKING VEGAS MYTHS: If your ID card expires, your grand prize will be forfeited
Published on: October 23, 2023 at 08:06 pm.
Last updated on: October 26, 2023, at 11:44 hours.
Does an expired ID mean you can’t tap the money when you reach your limit? Well, a viral TikTok video showing a woman standing on a casino floor screaming bloody murder last week sparks a common misconception.
“Bring me my won money!” She screams, beats her fists, and annoys the players around her. Next comes a dramatic voiceover worthy of “In a World Where” uttered by the man in the film’s trailer: “She won the jackpot, but an expired ID doesn’t mean no cash.”
The video neglected to point out that the screaming woman did not lose any money. You have allowed just one more unscrupulous social media user to get opinions with misinformation intended to incite outrage.
Based on feedback, this goal was achieved.
“The casino will for whatever reason not pay the winner!!!” Written by Chris B.
“They didn’t care that her (ID) expired when she put in the dollar and lost it!?!?” Dave added.
Missing information
If the jackpot winner cannot provide a valid photo ID (non-expired driver’s license, other state-issued ID, or passport) and Social Security number/tax ID, all U.S. casinos are required by federal law to store the winner’s card. With the grand prize. Payment until a later date when Can Its production.
Both items are required of anyone who wins $1,200 or more at a slot or other video game or more than $10,000 at a table game. This is because these amounts of action drive Uncle Sam to demand his story, and strict rules are put in place to ensure he always gets it.
Non-US residents also receive taxes of up to 30%.
The representative will also usually photograph you to ensure that your friend with valid ID is not trying to hand over the receipt. (See “Reasons for Casinos” Can “Payment Rejected” section below.)
If the screaming woman calms down enough, she will be given a deadline to return to the casino with a copy of the claim form, a valid ID, and Social Security number/tax ID. The minimum time varies between gambling jurisdictions but is always sufficient for most people to renew an expired ID or look up a lost or forgotten Social Security number.
Usually, it’s 90 days. But casinos can keep unclaimed cash on hand for as long as they wish, and many do.
Our research did not uncover a single lawsuit, although it is likely that many more will be filed if the time allotted is routinely insufficient.
Casino reasons Can Payment refused
- You are a minor. The minimum gambling age varies from state to state, but being underage almost always results in you forfeiting your jackpot and automatically making it part of the casino’s revenue. This rule has been challenged many times and it always holds up.
- Your name is in a dead database. In Nevada, winning more than $1,200 means your name will be shown through a database of people who owe unpaid government fines, have outstanding restitution judgments against them, or owe child support in Nevada. If your name comes up, the casino must either hold your money until it hears back from the state or pay your jackpot directly to the state and let it decide where it goes. Although Nevada is not one of the states participating in the Gambling Interdiction Program, this federal/state/tribal initiative confiscates gambling winnings in most other states with legal gambling from anyone listed in that database who owes child support anywhere in the United States
- You have signed up to the self-exclusion list. This voluntary program, offered through states and tribes, helps addicts who try not to gamble by denying them entry to casinos. Not only are registrants in this latest effort typically unable to receive paid gambling winnings, they can also be trespassed and, in the future, arrested for trying to enter the same casino.
- You are claiming someone else’s winnings, or someone else is claiming your winnings. Only the legitimate grand prize winner can collect it. This also involves picking up a winning coupon that someone else left in the slot machine. (In Nevada, NRS 465.070 states that it is unlawful to “demand, collect, or take—or attempt to demand, collect, or take—money or anything of value at or from a gambling game…without making a wager.”) Many In gaming jurisdictions, identity fraud is either a misdemeanor or felony theft. Since all jackpots over $1200 are also verified by surveillance, this is a crime that there is no chance of getting away with.
- Machine malfunction. Although strangely rare, occasionally a slot machine will show a jackpot win that never happened. Manufacturers call this a “display error.” One scene that has been seen many times over the years was winning $42,949,672.96. That’s because a line of code can, under the right circumstances, result in a “win” of 2 to the power of 32, which is 42,949,672.96.
Despite what you see on TikTok, casinos never use unfair or illegal methods to release money from their customers because they may be risking their operating licenses.
Moreover, the casino odds accomplish this for them with amazing efficiency.
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