Las Vegas cab driver Gerardo Gamboa thought someone left a bag of chocolates in the back seat of his vehicle, but the stash¹（藏匿物） turned out to be $300,000 in cold hard cash.

 

Now, Gamboa is winning honors for honesty after turning in the money he found Monday. The money was returned to an unidentified poker² player. Yellow Checker Star Transportation named Gamboa its driver of the year and rewarded him with $1,000 and a dinner for two at a restaurant.

 

A message left Wednesday for Gamboa at the cab company wasn't immediately returned.

 

Gamboa told the Las Vegas Review-Journal he had another passenger by the time he began wondering what kind of chocolates were in the brown paper bag. He peeked³ inside at a traffic light.

 

"I told my passenger, 'You are my witness on this,'" the 13-year taxi driver told the Las Vegas Sun, "and then I immediately called my dispatcher（调度员，分配器）."

 

Gamboa took the six bundles of $100 bills to the company's main office, where Las Vegas police and casino officials linked it to the poker player.

 

Gamboa said the man gave him a $5 tip after a trip from the Cosmopolitan⁴ resort to the Palms Place tower, and Gamboa then drove to the Bellagio resort, where a doorman helping⁵ a passenger into the car noticed the bag.

 

It took several hours to verify the identity of the owner and return the cash. He took Gamboa's information, but didn't immediately leave a reward.

 

"If he doesn't give me anything, that's OK," Gamboa told the Sun. "I'm not waiting for any kind of return. I just wanted to do the right thing, and I appreciate what the company did for me."

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