I'm trying to determine the proper way to handle cash that has been won by officers during undercover investigations of illegal gambling facilities. When the arrests are made and cash is from the machines, that all becomes subject to Chapter 18 or 59 forfeiture proceedings. But the cash that has been "paid out" to the undercovers prior to arrest is not part of that, as the owners no longer claim an interest in the cash after payout. But it needs to be accounted for from the law enforcement/accounting aspect after its evidentiary use. I would appreciate any input on how different counties are handling.

Did you ever get an answer to this. I have the same issue.

TCurry

No, I'm afraid not. I believe ours is still just sitting the safe until I can figure out how to account for it.

I am going to assume that public funds from some source were used in playing on the machines. So, why not treat the monies received/retrieved as a return on that investment (much like interest)? Deposit them into whatever account from which they were "borrowed" for investigation purposes.

Thanks - I'm running that by our auditor to see if we can make that work. It certainly makes sense to me.