Casino finds thousands in lost money

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – It’s the casino equivalent of reaching under your couch cushions and finding a buck or so in loose change.

Only the take at the former Sands Casino Hotel topped $17,000 worth of coins that fell under or around slot machines over the past three decades.

The casino was closed last November and will be torn down later this year to make way for a new gambling hall. The 2,350 machines had not been moved in the 26 years the Sands operated in Atlantic City, so workers removing them expected to find some stray cash.

Just how much, however, was a surprise: $17,193.34.

“We never expected this much,” said Carmen Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Pinnacle Atlantic City. “It was just shocking.”

The money belongs to Pinnacle Entertainment Inc., the Las Vegas company that purchased the Sands last year. New Jersey gets 8 percent of the money in taxes – the same as it would had the money been won from gamblers.