Actually, the money for the trip comes from a "Player Fund", which is a portion of your weekly league fees set aside in a separate bank account and used only for player benefits (trophies, patches, travel assistance, prize money in tournaments, etc.). APA audits those funds to make sure they are spent only on player benefits, so if an operator pockets any of that money they are in big trouble with the national office.
Unless it's stated otherwise in local bylaws, what a team actually wins in the Local Team Championships is eligibility for the National Team Championships. In many areas, provisions are made to provide travel assistance from the Player Fund for teams advancing to the National Team Championships. This travel assistance is NOT the prize for winning the Local Team Championships, so individual players who are not traveling to nationals have no claim to that money.
In some areas, there is also a monetary prize for winning the Local Team Championships. This is separate from travel assistance, so an individual's claim to a share of that money should not be affected by their ability or even willingness to travel to nationals. Find out if the money coming to your team is a monetary prize for winning the LTC or travel assistance for the trip to Vegas.
In either case, the money should be paid to or (in the case of travel assistance) on behalf of the team. If the team is paid a cash amount for either purpose, the team should decide how it is split among individual members. It's a team award, so the operator shouldn't be deciding which members get what.
