Las Vegas cabbie finds $300,000 in backseat, returns it to poker player

[Morg]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/25/us/las-vegas-cabbie-finds-300k/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

(CNN) -- A Las Vegas cabbie had no second thoughts when he found $300,000 in cash in a brown paper bag in his cab this week.

He made sure it was returned to the forgetful owner.

"I don't care from $10 to higher. My dignity is not for sale, and that's the way I am. That's the way our parents taught us when I was a kid," cabbie Gerardo Gamboa told CNN affiliate KVVU. "All I wanted to do was just call my dispatcher and return it, and this is the only chance I have to show cab drivers in Las Vegas are not bad people."

The loser of the money -- at least temporarily, thanks to Gamboa's good deed -- was a famous 28-year-old professional poker player, whom officials weren't publicly identifying, according to another CNN affiliate, KLAS.

The gambler was so devastated at his loss Monday that "he wanted to shoot himself in the head," a cab company official told KLAS.

"He was grateful. He was very understanding; he wasn't irritated. To a point he was irritated, but he wasn't mad or aggressive or anything. Maybe a little more embarrassed than anything. I mean, he left $300,000 in a cab, but he was an awesome guy," Yellow Checker Star field operations manager Joel Willden told KVVU.

The chief operating officer of the cab company described the sum as the most found in a cab in his 32 years in the business.

"We had to be as a company extremely cautious that the right person got the money," cab firm CEO Bill Shranko told KLAS. "It's the Christmas season and we think it's the best story that I've seen in 32 years, and cab drivers worldwide are going to be very proud."

It all began when Gamboa drove a man about two miles between casino-hotels, from the Cosmopolitan on the Las Vegas Strip to Palms Place, KLAS reported. The man gave him a $5 tip.

Gamboa then went back to the Strip -- the Bellagio casino-hotel. "When the doorman at the Bellagio opened up the door for the next passenger, he said, 'There's a bag in here. It's full of chocolate,'" Gamboa told KLAS.

When he opened the bag, Gamboa was stunned at the six bundles of $100 bills inside. His next fare was already in the cab, and Gamboa told the passenger, "Look sir, you are my witness. I didn't touch anything here," Gamboa told KLAS.

Meanwhile, the poker player went to the cab company looking for his lost money.

Gamboa took the small fortune to the office of his Nevada cab company, which contacted authorities. After a four-hour police investigation, officials confirmed the gambler was the rightful owner of the money, KLAS reported.

Yellow Check Star gave Gamboa a $1,000 reward, made him driver of the year, and gave him a steak dinner for two, the affiliates reported.

"I did the right thing, that's it," Gamboa told KLAS. "They call us sin city. But it's not. It's angel city."

 

[ThePhantasm]

always nice to read stories like this about good honest folk

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Are you serious? The cabbie returned 300k and this 20-something gambler who won his millions through poker, didn't even give him a reward?

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

As a fellow poker player you give away money all the time, that was his fault. He just got lucky this guy was honest. If he was a really famous poker player 300k would even make him break a sweat

 

[Slushy]

I would've taken it. The fact he only tipped $5 would've given more reason to, lol.

 

[KevanG]

To be fair at the very least he'd be the highest suspect on a short list. The owner was already dealing with the cab company, they had cameras in the cab and it was within a very short timeframe. He'd likely have been caught within hours anyway even if he had tried to keep it.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

I would've taken it. The fact he only tipped $5 would've given more reason to, lol.

You'd be fired and in jail.

 

[Thundercrack85]

That poker player should give him ten percent.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Maybe I'm a penny pincher, but I always find these stories of people losing an exorbitant amount of money strange. Remember those thousands of dollars they found in a desk someone somehow misplaced? Or the guy who left tens of thousands of dollars in his coat?

Now this.

How do you misplace hundreds of thousands of dollars?

 

[KevanG]

I'd have given him at least some sort of reward. Even a thousand bucks wouldn't have hurt. It's 1/3 of 1% of your winnings. Jeez. Cheapskate. At least the cab company gave him a reward.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

More than likely he was a cash player not a tournament player and cash players will go on marathon runs at times so I can see how he would be shot out and forget it. He was probably up for more than 24-48 hours

 

[Thundercrack85]

Wish I had 300,000 to forget about.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

I'm just hating this poker player more and more...

Not sure if it's jealousy for the fact he's an entitled 20-something who makes 300k so easily he can leave it in the car, while I bust my ass to make over 30k a year.... or if it's the fact it sounds like he didn't even give the cabbie a damn reward. Probably a combination of both. The cabbie is a better person than I am. That's all I can say.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

The cabbie should've gotten at least 2% ($6,000).

1,000 bucks is an insult and only discourages people from turning in lost money.

 

[RetrogradeOrbit]

In short...

Impressed with the cab driver. Not impressed with the money guy, as he never gave the cabbie an actual reward.
The cab company rewarded him...! So kudos to the cab company too.

 

[The Guard]

Let this be a lesson to you, kids. Only do something decent when there's money in it for you.

Wow.

 

[chaseter]

Because gambling is such an honest, hard work living.

 

[Superwoman Prime]

Credit to the cab driver, but I have to ask. . . did the poker player have a neurological disorder? How do you leave that much in a cab?

 

[Teelie]

Let this be a lesson to you, kids. Only do something decent when there's money in it for you.

Wow.

I think the cabbie should have been rewarded for his honesty. It doesn't mean he should be paid by the guy or that if he knew he wasn't getting an reward then he shouldn't have.

There isn't enough positive return for doing the right thing it seems like these days and encouraging it is not in itself a bad thing to do.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Because gambling is such an honest, hard work living.

It's takes some skill and some luck to be good at poker, just like the stock market.

 

[Teelie]

And I think poker players are more honest than the stock market players.

 

[Teelie]

Cabbie was given $10k by the gambler so now all is right in the world.

 

[KevanG]

10K? That's not bad at all.

 

[CFE]

Let this be a lesson to you, kids. Only do something decent when there's money in it for you.

Wow.

Because gambling is such an honest, hard work living.

Pretty sure Guard was referring to the cabbie...and the responses bashing the gambler for not giving him more of a reward.

So the cabbie should've only returned the money with the thought he'd get a reward for it?

That's the lesson these responses to the story seem to be preaching...when the real lesson that the cabbie's actions actually teach is that you should just do the right thing because it's right.

Whether he got $1,000 or $10,000 from the cab company or the gambler doesn't matter. The potential for a reward shouldn't be a motivator for you to do the right thing.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Because some day you might help someone who isn't a rich, entitled, ungrateful poker player.