Just got back from a long weekend in Vegas and had a funny/educational story some of you might enjoy - Flew down with my very gambling rookie nephew on Saturday. Sunday morning (obviously very hungover) we go make bets at about 9AM at the Bally's book.
I throw down a 4-leg for $50 to win $280 of AM games, my nephew throws down $40 to win $6600 for an 8-leg morning and afternoon games. So, we head out Sunday to check out some sights and watch games. About noon we're eating lunch downtown/Freemont Street and he realizes he doesn't have his ticket. Of course, I'm thinking it isn't going to matter but he's super stressed out - he even heads back to the last bar we were at and goes through the trash to look. Of course, he doesn't find it.
Anyhow..... FF a few hours and we're back at a room in a buddy's penthouse at the Bellagio and he's actually getting pretty close (somehow he's pretty sure he remembers all 8 bets). It comes down to him needing Bills +2.5. Of course the crazy catch happens and AZ scored to go up 2. Then, in a VERY fortunate turn of events they just sit on the ball without kicking the extra point and he wins by 1/2 point.... or so he thinks since w/o the ticket it's far from a sure thing. And, of course, he lost the ticket. So, there is that hurdle.
I do some basic net research and tell him he might be okay but needs to go to the book and file a "lost ticket" claim. I had no idea such thing existed. So, he heads over to Bally's. I stay behind and do all kinds of drinking and things. He's over there for over an hour trying to determine if he even won and if he did, is he SOL w/o a ticket.
It turns out he did remember correctly and won all 8 and is actually going to get the money. They cancelled the original ticket (thank god for technology) but he has to wait for 120 days and they'll send him the $6600. Honestly, it's probably good that he didn't get the cash since it would have gone to hookers and blow for sure.
So, after all this rambling I did learn a few things that you might want to do it you ever bet live at a book. Take a picture of the ticket so they can easily find it later. Also, use a player's club card and they can usually find it that way. My nephew did neither. Hence the 1 hour+ trying to find the ticket. It helped a lot that he remembered all 8 events and that he knew the exact time he made the bet based on my ticket so they could pull the camera footage. Honestly, the people at Bally's book were very helpful.
The weekend even had more good news - I won my 4-leg on the DET 59yd FG (although I would later find out that $300 was a kind of insignificant amount of money for us that day). And crazy enough, same nephew won 4K more on a Pai Gow progressive jackpot last night. Nothing like beginner's luck. I told him he probably had a better change of getting mauled by a bear and struck by lightning on the same day. His 8-leg was literally the second sports bet of his life!