Let me respond to a couple of points. First about the IRS: yes, if you leave up $30 (no W2G) you are still supposed to report the win. Can it be "enforced?" Probably unlikely unless the IRS goes to great lengths to put you in the slammer. That is our "voluntary tax system" at work in this example.

Technically, if you won a thousand dollars, and then lost it because it fell out of your pocket, you still have the tax liability for the $1,000 casino win. There is also a tax deduction for losses of property, but there is a deductible for losses which goes on Schedule A of $100 per incident, and this can be further reduced according to how Schedule A deductions are treated.

I never found large amounts of cash -- the most I ever found was $3 on a sidewalk in front of my house. I stood there, waiting for a few minutes and even looked up and down the street to see if someone was even walking nearby. I put the $3 in my pocket after a few minutes and went inside.

About ten or eleven years ago I was playing a slot machine (yes, a real slot machine because that's what I played back then even before I played craps for the first time or even knew what VP was) and noticed that there was $350 in credits on the machine next to me. I was with my sister and her husband, and we waited nearly an hour for someone to show up. When no one showed up, we played it. We didn't know anything about the law saying it was the casino's money. I now know that our playing it was against the law and the right thing to do was to notify a floor person, and that's what I would do now. (By the way, if the forgetful player had shown up, I was prepared to reach into my wallet and give them $350 on the spot.)

It's not always about what goes into your own pocket. Sometimes, it all comes down to doing the right thing. If enough people did the right thing the world would be a better place. If someone does the right thing walking through an airport or walking down the street or sitting in a casino, I would think that person would also do the right thing in business and in life in general.