The Adult Lost-and-Found Box

During our Christmas vacation day-trip to our new favorite casino,  Genius's Friend lost his house key. Actually, the key to his parents' house. Which is about two hours away from the casino. It must have fallen out of his pocket while he was pulling out money.

The same thing happened to the ex-mayor my sister's husband, when they were on a gambling trip in Oklahoma. Ex-Mayor lost his car keys. He discovered their location by calling six casinos, and Hick drove Ex-Mayor back to get them. He also lost them on another trip with Sis. Who now carries the keys in her purse. Security at that casino watched Ex-Mayor on their cameras, and directed him back to the machine where he thought he dropped them, and found them still on the floor.

Friend didn't realize the loss until they were leaving. Headed, ironically, to meet his parents. He retraced his steps, with no luck. But he DID find a cell phone on the floor! He took it to the player's card desk, and asked if anyone had turned in a house key. They had not. Genius and Friend left.

Before we were ready to leave, The Pony went to the player's card desk to claim his scratcher for signing up for a player's card and earning points. He won $10. While he was there, the girl asked if his friends had lost something. She recognized The Pony from when all three of them signed up for their player's cards.

The Pony came back to me to ask if Genius or Friend had lost something. "Yes! A house key! See if they will give it to you."

The Pony returned. "No. She said he'd have to pick it up himself. He has to sign for it. I'll text Genius to tell him."

In the end, Friend discussed it with his parents, who said it didn't matter. So the key went unclaimed.

I understand their reluctance to give the key to The Pony. Casinos can't have people turning in things all willy-nilly, and other people asking if things have been found. Ne'er-do-wells might have seen the previous person turn it in, and pretend it's theirs. Likewise, the casino needs someone to sign off on getting "their" item back, to prevent lawsuits claiming theft, or them giving an item to its non-owner, who could possibly perpetrate shenanigans with it.

I hope the cell phone loser had a way to identify it!