The customer has no case at all here, and is a fool for going to Gaming and crying foul, for it is nothing but a waste of his time.

And anyone who has dealt with NGC knows they do not suffer fools gladly, nor do they like anyone wasting their time.
And if for nothing else other than uniformity, and to avoid accusations of "select enforcement" Gaming will spank this monkey and send him on his way with his tail between his legs AND no payoff in his pocket, as they have done with similar cases in the past.

Tickets clearly say "Void after X days."
His ticket is expired, he has no legal case, regardless of what he, or you and I think on this matter (and I think he is a jackass for not cashing it in the required and stated time frame. Disagree? Did he get paid? I rest my case.)

There is nothing contemptible at all in the managers comments, it is merely a statement of fact. The truly asinine statment in all of this is the customer admitting that he has cashed expired tickets before. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Yes, most books will do the right thing and pay the ticket MOST of the time, BUT ya know when they don't? When it is a repeat offender, especially a local.
To the casino, this is tantamount to the player saying their rules don't apply to him, a foolish gesture that rarely leads to a profitable end.

There are alternate payment methods available, such as 'pay by mail.' For a customer who lives in Vegas and just didn't make time to walk into a casino to now expect to get paid is ridiculous; it was a stupid thing to do. And as with most stupid mistakes, people end up paying for them. He gave the casino an excuse not to pay, and they took it. And some people are surprised? Hello?

The final inaccuracy of the 'let's attack the sportsbook manager" quest is one that author Jeff Haney should know better than to suggest wiothout first having researched to see if that is in fact where the decision was made, and stating so in the column - it is RARELY the book manager's decision in these matters. The late ticket policy is mandated by Casino Management, and enforced by Accounting.
The accounting department is the one who has to:
A - do a manual lookup to confirm that the ticket is in fact a winner
B- print reports on the event to do a manual look up to ensure the ticket has not been paid previously
C - do paperwork on the above
and finally,
D, which goes against all their principles (or lack of) - authorize a payment to a gambler (note: 'gambler' not customer, as that is how accounting/management views them)

Like most people, book managers and accountants do not like anyone who makes their job harder, or causes them extra work, just as you wouldn't appreciate it if someone did the same to you, in whatever trade you ply. They will pay off, MOST instances, for late tickets, BUT when it is a local, and a repeat offender, they sometimes choose to not do the extra work again. They choose to enforce the rules of the casino and train the customer as to what those rules are. They are NOT in the business of paying money, and in cases such as this the gambler has conveniently provided them a loophole to increase the hold % to the house's favor, which is their favorite thing to do.

The problem is, most people believe casinos are in the gambling business.

They are not.

They are in the business of TAKING money from gamblers.

To assume or suggest that the casinos are in business to pay money out, or to be fair, is a fool's folly and an inaccurate foundation to build a case on in the first place.