TIFU by not cashing out at the casino

For context: I’ve been seeing this guy for a few months. We never made things official, but things were going on the right track. He has kids that he’s trying to save up money to go see (they live in another state), and whenever we hang out, he always ends up drinking some beers. He’s also said that he has a hard time with saving money.

This time was like no other: we hang out and go to a bar. What was different was that he said he wanted to go to a casino, and I originally objected, since he’s told me before that he’s lost all the money that he started with previous times he’s been. I eventually agreed, and we go.

Now, I’ve only been to the casino a handful of times in my life. I don’t know much about gambling. Whenever I would go, it’d be blackjack and never the slot machines. I saw that whenever we went to a different slot machine, he would hit the “cash out” button. He went away for a minute to go to the bathroom, and then shortly after he called me because he couldn’t find me. Without even thinking, I left the slot machine without hitting cash out. When I found him and told him that, he understandably was very upset since there was no cash out ticket and it was for a few hundred dollars…meaning that someone took it. I hand to God did not know that someone could steal whatever the amount that you put in was.

I profusely apologized and said that I understand how stupid and fucked up that was. He said that that was a waste of money that he could’ve used to see his kids. We originally planned for him to stay the night, but once we got back he got to his car and left. He said that he doesn’t want to talk about it, and sarcastically said that he’s glad that I learned a life lesson through him. I also repeatedly offered to give him that money back to him, but he said no and he doesn’t want my money.

I wholeheartedly understand how much I fucked up, and I want to make this right. I care about him and he knows that, which makes it worse. We work together and I asked “so come Monday, you’ll never want to talk to me again? I would want to make it up to you” and he didn’t give me a clear answer. Not sure where to go from here…

TL;DR: went to the casino, left the slot machine without cashing out, accidentally lost my friend’s money, not sure if I’ll still have a friendship / situationship with that person

EDIT: I called the casino, I guess they can look up surveillance footage of the particular slot machine and see who took it, and to potentially recover the money. I sent him a text in a professional manner, and left it open for him – not telling him what to do, but saying “it’s up to you if you’d like to follow through with that.” So it’s out of my hands, but I’ll try my best to keep everything strictly professional with him from here on out