I’ve spent a lot of money in Las Vegas over the years, and somehow one of my favorite souvenirs is a collection of casino cash-out tickets worth practically nothing.
Nineteen of them, to be exact. All from different Las Vegas casinos, including one from the airport.
If you’ve ever cashed out a slot machine for something like $115.20, you probably know what happens next. You take your ticket to the redemption machine, it gives you $115 in cash, and then prints out another ticket for the remaining twenty cents.
Now you’ve got two choices. Walk over to the casino cage, stand in line, and collect your twenty cents, or throw the ticket away and move on with your life.
I’ve never been particularly interested in standing in line for twenty cents.
Apparently, I am interested in saving those tickets for several years and eventually framing them.
Different priorities, I guess.
The Night We Accidentally Started Collecting Casino Tickets
For years, I didn’t give those little leftover slot tickets a second thought.
Whenever I finished gambling and ended up with a ticket worth a few cents, I’d usually throw it away or hand it to somebody who was still playing. Sometimes I’d just leave it behind.
I wasn’t going to stand in line at the cashier’s cage to collect some change. I had more important things to do, like finding another slot machine to lose considerably more money on.
Then one night, Nikki and I ended up visiting somewhere around ten different Las Vegas casinos.
I don’t remember exactly how many we hit that night, but we were bouncing around from one casino to another, gambling, having drinks, and doing what we normally do in Vegas.
For whatever reason, instead of throwing away those small cash-out tickets, I started stuffing them into my pocket.
By the end of the night, I had a little collection of casino tickets that I completely forgot about.
It wasn’t until we got back home that I found them.
Around that same time, I happened to see somebody online who had saved their casino cash-out tickets as souvenirs.
I thought that was a pretty cool idea.
We had already visited a bunch of casinos, and I had the tickets sitting there. Rather than throwing them away like I’d done for years, I figured we might as well keep them.
And that’s pretty much how the whole thing started.
No grand plan. No special moment. Just some leftover gambling tickets and an idea I stole from somebody on the internet.
That’s one of the things I enjoy about Vegas. You can plan your whole trip around certain casinos and still end up wandering into somewhere completely different.
I actually wrote an entire article about finding your own version of Las Vegas, because everybody seems to enjoy this place a little differently.
Apparently, part of our version involves bringing home tiny pieces of paper that most people throw in the garbage.
Nineteen Different Las Vegas Casinos, Nineteen Tickets
A few years later, we’ve managed to collect nineteen different casino cash-out tickets.
We have one simple rule: No duplicate casinos.
Every ticket has to come from a different Las Vegas casino. The amount of money on it doesn’t matter, and we’re not trying to find tickets with certain values.
It’s just a record of the casinos we’ve visited.
We’ve got tickets from places like Bellagio, Golden Gate, Main Street Station, Four Queens, and plenty of others.
Some of these things are worth less than a nickel, which somehow makes framing them feel like an even better decision.
We even have a ticket from the slot machines at Harry Reid International Airport, which I think is a pretty good addition to the collection.
Most people are probably thinking about getting through security, catching their flight, or finding something to eat before heading home.
I’m apparently still finding ways to gamble at the airport.
And if you’ve never been to Las Vegas, yes, they really do have slot machines at the airport. The official Las Vegas airport website even has a section dedicated to gaming locations throughout the terminals.
Nikki gets into the collection too. In fact, she’s usually the one reminding me which casinos we haven’t been to yet.
It’s funny because we’ve been going to Las Vegas for years, and there’s still a surprising number of casinos we haven’t visited.
We tend to spend time at places we already know we enjoy, so having the collection gives us another reason to check out somewhere different when we’re in the area.
Not that we need much convincing to walk into another casino.
We Don’t Go to Casinos Just to Collect Tickets
One thing I should probably explain is that we don’t plan our Vegas trips around collecting these things.
I’m not dragging Nikki across Las Vegas because we’re missing a particular casino ticket.
If we happen to be somewhere we haven’t visited before, we’ll stop in, look around, gamble a little, and I’ll save my cash-out ticket.
That’s it.
And I’m not deliberately playing until I have twenty cents left, either.
When I cash out a slot machine, there’s usually some change involved. Whether I’m cashing out for twenty bucks or a couple hundred, the ticket often has some cents on the end.
At plenty of casinos, the ticket redemption machines will pay out the whole-dollar amount and print another voucher for whatever change is left.
I’m taking the cash, obviously.
I’m just not walking over to the cage to collect the leftover change.
So now, instead of throwing those little tickets away, I hang on to them if they’re from a casino we haven’t collected yet.
It’s probably the only time in Las Vegas I’ve managed to save something without spending additional money.
Although technically, it was my money to begin with.
I’ve spent enough time gambling in Las Vegas to know that my financial decisions don’t always make much sense.
I’ll spend time figuring out how to save a few bucks on a hotel, then sit down at a blackjack table and make decisions that cost considerably more.
I once played what I thought was perfect blackjack and lost $700 before dinner.
But ask me to stand in line for twenty cents, and suddenly my time is extremely valuable.
I’ve also written about the lies gamblers tell themselves, and I’m pretty sure I could add a few more to that list.
At least collecting these tickets is one Vegas habit that isn’t getting any more expensive.
From My Pocket to the Double Down Mac Studio Wall
For a while, we were just saving the tickets as we collected them.
Eventually, we decided to do something with them.
We arranged all nineteen tickets into a framed display with some Welcome to Las Vegas imagery, and it actually turned out pretty cool.
Now that I’ve finished putting together my new Double Down Mac office and recording studio, the collection has found a home on the wall.
It’s one of my favorite things in the room.
I’ve got plenty of Vegas-related stuff, but there’s something different about having a collection that we’ve slowly put together over several trips.
Every ticket represents a casino Nikki and I have actually visited.
Some are from places we’d probably end up at anyway. Others are from casinos we happened to discover while wandering around.
And because Nikki is usually keeping track of which casinos we’re missing, it’s become a little tradition we both participate in.
There’s nothing particularly valuable about the tickets themselves. They’re just little pieces of paper that most people throw away without thinking twice.
Hell, that’s exactly what I did for years.
But put nineteen of them together in a frame, and suddenly you’ve got something pretty cool hanging on your wall.
I’m not sure what that says about my decorating skills, but I’m happy with it.
A Cheap Las Vegas Souvenir You Can Start Collecting Yourself
One thing I like about this idea is that anybody who already plays slots in Las Vegas can do it.
You don’t need to buy anything special, sign up for a membership, or spend an afternoon wandering through souvenir shops.
If you’re already gambling and end up with a leftover cash-out ticket, save it.
That’s really all there is to it.
You could collect one from every casino you visit, one from every Vegas trip, or just save tickets from places that you particularly enjoyed.
You don’t even have to frame them. A photo album, scrapbook, or little keepsake box would work just fine.
Personally, I like having one from each different casino. It gives us something new to add whenever we happen to visit a place we haven’t been before.
And I wouldn’t recommend gambling extra money just to get a ticket. That kind of defeats the purpose of having a cheap souvenir.
I’ve spent plenty of time trying to figure out how much money you actually need for five days in Las Vegas, and buying yourself a souvenir by gambling more isn’t exactly a money-saving strategy.
Also, these tickets are issued for real money and have redemption rules and expiration dates.
Under Nevada Revised Statute 463.369, the obligation to pay an unredeemed wagering voucher generally expires by the date printed on the ticket or after 180 days, whichever comes first, unless a shorter period applies.
So if you’ve got a ticket worth an amount you’d actually miss, you should probably cash it in rather than hang it on your wall.
For us, it’s the little leftover amounts that aren’t worth standing in line for.
Over time, those small pieces of paper have turned into a collection that reminds us of years of Vegas trips together.
Without having to buy another overpriced souvenir at the airport.
Although, considering we have a ticket from the airport, I guess they still managed to get something out of me.
My Favorite Vegas Souvenirs Are Still Worth Almost Nothing
I’ve brought home all kinds of stuff from Las Vegas over the years.
Some of it I’ve bought, some of it I’ve gotten for free, and some of it probably seemed like a much better purchase after a few drinks.
But this framed collection of nineteen casino cash-out tickets might be one of my favorites.
It started completely by accident, cost practically nothing to collect, and has turned into something Nikki and I add to whenever we get the chance.
We’ve still got plenty of Las Vegas casinos to visit, so I imagine the collection will keep growing.
I’ve written about how much gambling it takes to earn MGM Rewards Gold status, and I’ve spent years figuring out casino comps, hotel discounts, and ways to make my Vegas budget go further.
Apparently, the one thing I should have been collecting all along was the change I couldn’t be bothered to cash in.
Of course, if you add up how much money I’ve spent gambling at those nineteen casinos, this might actually be the most expensive souvenir collection I own.
Does anybody else collect casino cash-out tickets, or are Nikki and I the only ones framing money we couldn’t be bothered to cash in?
Frequently Asked Questions About Collecting Las Vegas Casino Tickets
Can you keep casino cash-out tickets as souvenirs?
Yes. If you receive a cash-out ticket from a Las Vegas slot machine, you can keep the physical ticket as a souvenir instead of redeeming it. Just remember that an unredeemed ticket still represents real money until its redemption rights expire.
Do Las Vegas casino cash-out tickets expire?
Yes. Nevada law generally provides that the obligation to redeem wagering vouchers expires on the printed expiration date or after 180 days, whichever comes first, unless a shorter period applies. Always check the information printed on your ticket.
What happens if a casino redemption machine won’t pay out your change?
At many Las Vegas casinos, the redemption machine pays out the whole-dollar amount and issues another voucher for the remaining cents. You can typically take that voucher to the casino cage for redemption. Personally, I’m not standing in line for twenty cents.
How do you start a Las Vegas casino ticket collection?
If you already play slot machines, save a small leftover cash-out ticket from a casino you visit. You can collect tickets from different properties, organize them by trip, or frame your favorites. There’s no reason to gamble additional money just to create a collection.
How many casino cash-out tickets are in the Double Down Mac collection?
As of October 2026, Nikki and I have collected nineteen cash-out tickets from nineteen different Las Vegas casinos, including a ticket from the airport slot machines. We don’t collect duplicates, and the framed display now hangs in my Double Down Mac office and recording studio.
