I see a big difference between Chen and this case
Chen played in the casino and though a counter, he risked his money on tables that in fact do not require any ID to play except to verify being 21 or older.
A casino drawing is a different situation. You are getting a prize for which you do not place a bet on. The prize is offered to the lucky person whose name is drawn from those using their players card at the casino. You are playing on that persons card but you are not that person. The drawing rules most likely require the person called to be present to claim his money and my guess was that he was not present.
If you actually had the card created with a phony ID, the ID may work for getting the money. You risk a heavy federal problem should you use a false SS#, since it could easily be seen as trying to defraud uncle of his share of what is in your pocket. In this case, if you used your own SS# and list the 1099 on your tax return, even though the name may be different, you are showing no malice towards the feds and should have no problem. (I am not an attorney and never stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, so this is just my BS opinion)
If you found the players card and used it on the tables, just leave the table as if you are going to get your prize but forget about it and probably just cash your chips and leave. Reasoning here is that the pit or dealer or someone there might know that Mr X whose name was called is sitting at the BJ table and should be getting his prize. Once Mr X's time period for claiming is gone a new name will most likely be called, leaving those watching you wondering about why you turned down free money. As a matter of fact, if cashing chips can take a long time in this casino or you have an amount that requires the cage to call the pit, you are best just leaving and cashing another day and shift.
ihate17