This is from the Wizard of Odds...
The Stratosphere is the infamous first member of my Las Vegas Blacklist. The reason is for refusing to cash a winning sports ticket, worth $2,900. The bet was made on September 20, 2007, and expired 60 days after the event on November 21, 2007. On January 26, 2008, I requested redemption of said ticket anyway. I have no good excuse for letting it expire; I simply lost track of time. Most sports books will honor expired tickets anyway, although they may ask you to submit them through the accounting department so they can verify their legitimacy. The same goes for slot machine tickets. However, the sports book manager Patrick Rethore said that the decision to honor the ticket rested with him alone, and he would not honor it, period. I am reasonable, so I suggested we submit the ticket through accounting so they could verify it, but he insisted that if we did so, he still would not honor it.
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Final score: Oklahoma St. 49, Texas Tech 45 [SIZE=-2](Yahoo Sports)[/SIZE] </CENTER>
At this point I called the Nevada Gaming Control Board to file a dispute. I was told that for disputes of $500 or over the casino is required to call Gaming themselves, which the Stratosphere did not do. While I waited, two casino executives spoke to me in a belittling manner, effectively standing behind the sport book manager's decision. After about 45 minutes, the Gaming Control Board agent arrived. He listened to both versions, and let me write a statement. Without saying so directly, the agent made it quite clear that I was going to lose, since technically the ticket expired. However, I'm not one to go down without a fight.
In my opinion, sixty days is an unreasonably short expiration period. Most other casinos allow 120 days on the ticket, and will still honor them beyond that if you ask. This is just a way to make it easier for them to deny payment to legitimate winners. I recognize that the Stratosphere has some legal justification to deny the ticket. I have various legal arguments I plan to pursue, which I will not post hear, to attempt to win through Gaming or the courts. However, in my opinion, this is more so a fight on moral grounds. It is not coincidental that "Thou shalt honor thy gambling debts" is the first of my Ten Commandments of Gambling. The bet won; the honorable thing to do is pay it.
After posting this, I received the following comments from Don Schlesinger, one of the greatest minds in blackjack, and author of Blackjack Attack. They are reprinted here with his permission.
The Stratosphere is the infamous first member of my Las Vegas Blacklist. The reason is for refusing to cash a winning sports ticket, worth $2,900. The bet was made on September 20, 2007, and expired 60 days after the event on November 21, 2007. On January 26, 2008, I requested redemption of said ticket anyway. I have no good excuse for letting it expire; I simply lost track of time. Most sports books will honor expired tickets anyway, although they may ask you to submit them through the accounting department so they can verify their legitimacy. The same goes for slot machine tickets. However, the sports book manager Patrick Rethore said that the decision to honor the ticket rested with him alone, and he would not honor it, period. I am reasonable, so I suggested we submit the ticket through accounting so they could verify it, but he insisted that if we did so, he still would not honor it.
<CENTER><TABLE cellSpacing=12><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Final score: Oklahoma St. 49, Texas Tech 45 [SIZE=-2](Yahoo Sports)[/SIZE] </CENTER>
At this point I called the Nevada Gaming Control Board to file a dispute. I was told that for disputes of $500 or over the casino is required to call Gaming themselves, which the Stratosphere did not do. While I waited, two casino executives spoke to me in a belittling manner, effectively standing behind the sport book manager's decision. After about 45 minutes, the Gaming Control Board agent arrived. He listened to both versions, and let me write a statement. Without saying so directly, the agent made it quite clear that I was going to lose, since technically the ticket expired. However, I'm not one to go down without a fight.
In my opinion, sixty days is an unreasonably short expiration period. Most other casinos allow 120 days on the ticket, and will still honor them beyond that if you ask. This is just a way to make it easier for them to deny payment to legitimate winners. I recognize that the Stratosphere has some legal justification to deny the ticket. I have various legal arguments I plan to pursue, which I will not post hear, to attempt to win through Gaming or the courts. However, in my opinion, this is more so a fight on moral grounds. It is not coincidental that "Thou shalt honor thy gambling debts" is the first of my Ten Commandments of Gambling. The bet won; the honorable thing to do is pay it.
After posting this, I received the following comments from Don Schlesinger, one of the greatest minds in blackjack, and author of Blackjack Attack. They are reprinted here with his permission.
I would point out to you that, in NY, a law was passed forbidding gift certificates to retail stores from having an expiration date. People would get them as gifts, and then forget about them. A year later, when they went to use them, they'd be told that they were no longer valid. Same principle. No earthly reason to have such a date, except to occasionally invoke the "penalty" and steal the money from the gift recipient. So, NY state passed a law making such expiration dates illegal.
There is no reason whatsover why sports bets should have an expiration, and SURELY not as ridiculously short as 60 days. I can remember that they used to be something like a full year. 60 days is nothing more than a pure and simple scheme to steal the patrons' money. If you can destroy the Stratosphere, I'd applaud your effort. It's time to teach some of these extortionary scumbags a lesson. ? Don Schlesinger
There is no reason whatsover why sports bets should have an expiration, and SURELY not as ridiculously short as 60 days. I can remember that they used to be something like a full year. 60 days is nothing more than a pure and simple scheme to steal the patrons' money. If you can destroy the Stratosphere, I'd applaud your effort. It's time to teach some of these extortionary scumbags a lesson. ? Don Schlesinger
