Slot machines remain the most important money-making part of casinos in the United States. In many states, casinos make between 65 and 80 percent of their gambling income from slots. If you won it from a legitimate, legal casino, you don’t need to worry. You may have heard that any cash deposit in a US bank over $10,000 is treated as “suspicious.”. Except for a few formalities, the process of depositing a large amount of money is similar to that of smaller amounts. These formalities help financial institutions comply with the Bank Secrecy Act, created to detect possible money laundering activities. Your money will be available to you in a few business days, depending on the amount.
I couldn't think of a great thread title, but I am interested in discussing a few things related to cash in casinos. Are casino's obligated to pay you any amount in cash? Could Phil Ivey gotten his £7.7 million in cash? The biggest win I've ever had was a $4,000 royal which I took in cash, but that isn't a large amount for a casino. Do individual casinos have limits? 'We pay up to $20,000 in cash the rest in check'?
AZDuffman
You could probably request cash and hey really shouldn't care. But you might have to wait if yos ask for your WSOP winnings in nickels.
All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others
Ayecarumba
Nevada casinos are required to keep a certain amount of cash on hand to cover chips in action. If a player wants cash, even an obscene amount that weighs more than he could carry, they could certainly provide it, since many joints are corporately connected, and share vaults. Even if they are not corporately connected, many smaller joints have cash coverage agreements between them to comply with the Gaming Commission requirements. If they don't have enough cash on hand, Gaming can, and will, shut them down. Binion's was in a low cash situation several years (and owner's), ago, and got shut down. Certain large slot jackpots (e.g., Megabucks, Wheel of Fortune) specify that they pay via an annuity. I don't know if any table game jackpots, like the Carribbean Stud Royal bonus are also set up that way, but I doubt it, since awards rarely exceed a few hundred thousand.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - Leonardo da Vinci
FleaStiff
Regs determine the amount of cash and cash equivalents the casino must have on hand. That display of one million dollars .. doesn't earn interest but it does count as being 'on hand' for the casino. The ultra high amount at which tables are banked in the Venetian make some minority shareholder grumble. Even during the recession the high limit tables were banked at very high amounts thus requiring high amounts to be on hand to cover the chips that just sat there, never being put into play. A casino can pay by check but will accommodate various requests. One man, dressed as a monk, walked in carrying a brown paper bag containing eighty grand. Walked out with the same brown paper bag containing 250,000. No one ever asked him if he had taken a vow of poverty or not. Mia, a young lady at the old Binions, whose style of shooting dice left no doubts as to her never wearing any panties always walked in with cash and sometimes walked out with cash but never once walked out with even a certified check. Mia lived in a one room dump but was often staking other gamblers. Las Vegas Soft Count rooms were at one time selected as 'emergency currency sources' for FBI's Hijacking Team when a ransom demand couldn't be met in a certain time zone the selected casinos would step in and furnish the ransom which was driven to Nellis AF base.
DRich
Las Vegas Soft Count rooms were at one time selected as 'emergency currency sources' for FBI's Hijacking Team when a ransom demand couldn't be met in a certain time zone the selected casinos would step in and furnish the ransom which was driven to Nellis AF base.
Very interesting. I have lived in Vegas for 23 years and I had never heard that before. Unfortunately, I have never won as much as six figures so I have never asked for a check.
Living longer does not always infer +EV
Jimbo
One method of money laundering is to buy chips with cash, play for a time (usually a short period of time), and then when cashing out the chips at the cage, be issued a check. The check can then obviously be deposited in the individual's personal bank account. Voila. Cash laundered. To avoid this, it is my understanding that if you ask for a check, the casino will not issue a check to you for the amount of cash you bought in for. If you did have winnings in excess of the cash buy-in, you may ask for and receive a check--in an amount for all or part of the winnings only. But not for the amount of the buy-in. For the amount of the cash buy-in, you must receive cash back.
FleaStiff
I understand that many people try to buy chips with credit cards and then cash the chips and walk away from the credit card debt n various fashions but casinos are wise to this. One P.I. in NYC followed a suspect to Atlantic City and found out what was going on so he told the casino that the wife's signature on the credit card account had been forged. Casinos move fast when they have to. In the opening scenes of The Croupier, a somewhat speculative film noir, a woman comes in and puts two tall stacks on Red and Black and then immediately takes her winnings to the cashiers cage for a check. Of course that was an English film, not necessarily the real world.
Ayecarumba
.. For the amount of the cash buy-in, you must receive cash back.
I've never heard this. First, how does the cashier know what the original buy in was? What if the customer buys in for $5,000 in cash at the BJ table, loses it all, then moves to the Craps table, buys in for another $5,000 in cash, doubles up after a few hours, then goes to the cashier window with $10k in chips. I'm pretty sure the player could get a check for $10k. Of course, there's going to be some government paperwork to fill out too.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - Leonardo da Vinci
Jimbo
Thanks for this post from:
Planet 7 casino sign in. First, how does the cashier know what the original buy in was?..I'm pretty sure the player could get a check for $10k
Well, I do not work for a casino, so I could be wrong, but I have dealt with some of the procedures involving larger cash transactions. If the cash transaction at the cage is for a relatively small amount--less than $2,500--it is possible to perhaps get away with some things, since that amount typically does not involve any sort of identification. I still think that if you ask for a check of even that small amount, they may inquire as to your buy-in and only issue a check for the amount of the winnings. If you did not use a player's card when you bought in, and if they cannot confirm the amount of your buy-in, then they may refuse to issue a check to you. Again, my opinion. In the situation you described
How Do Casinos Pay Out Large Sums Of Money Laundering
involving $10,000, the cashier will definitely know (or I should say, will find out) how much your buy-in was. You asked, How? The cashier will ask for your player's card and then will call surveillance as you cash out, since they will take a photo of you and of the chips (from the eye in the sky). Other in-house records will be documented. Depending on the jurisdiction and depending on the casino's policies, this could be for an amount as small as $3,000, but at least for amounts approaching $10,000. In addition, either surveillance or the cashier may call the pit to find out that the chips were properly obtained by you.
Assuming you used a player's card, the amount of your buy-in will be in the system. If you did not use a player's card, there was still an entry made by the pit supervisor describing your buy-in. I assure you, the pit bosses at the BJ pit and the craps pit made a record of those two buy-ins of $5,000 each. There was also a record made when you lost the first $5K at the BJ table and left the table. So, I respectfully disagree. I am pretty sure the player will not get a check for $10K. You are also right about some paperwork. If the amount is $10,000 or less, they will not ask for your SS number. Again, they may still ask for a player's card. If the amount is more than $10k, they will ask for your SS number and ID and complete a CTR. By asking for a check to be issued to you--again depending on the circumstances of how long you played and several other factors, such as whether you provided a player's card when you bought in--the casino may even file an SAR (Suspicious Activity Report). The SAR can be for amounts less than $10K--usually not less than $5K, but it can be if they think there was suspicious activity.
How Do Casinos Pay Out Large Sums Of Money Calculator
I believe--again, I have not looked into this and I could be wrong--Treasury Dept. regulations may even define suspicious activity to include buying in with cash and then trying to obtain a check for the amount of the buy-in. I think another defined suspicious activity is if you use small bills in excess of $2,500 (such as 10s and 20s) as your buy-in as part of an effort to exchange it for larger denominations. There are certainly additional activities that are defined under the regulations.
AlanMendelson
What surprises me is that the Federal Reserve has a branch in Miami and one in LA but not in Vegas. How do they get the cash in and out?
More Articles
Federal law allows you to withdraw as much cash as you want from your bank accounts. It's your money, after all. Take out more than a certain amount, however, and the bank must report the withdrawal to the Internal Revenue Service, which might come around to inquire about why you need all that cash.
The Law
A 1970 anti-money-laundering law known as the Bank Secrecy Act spells out the rules for large cash withdrawals. In general, banks must report any transaction exceeding $10,000 in cash. That includes not only withdrawals but also deposits, currency exchanges (such as swapping dollars for euros or Japanese yen) and the purchase of traveler's checks. The law also requires banks to check identification on any transaction that would trigger a report. In other words, even if your bank doesn't usually ask for ID with withdrawals, it must do so for withdrawals over $10,000.
Aggregate Withdrawals
Under the law, all transactions carried out at an institution within a single day count as a single transaction, and all branches of a bank count as a single institution. So if you went to your bank in the morning and withdrew $5,000, then went to a different branch in the afternoon and took out another $5,000, the combined transactions would trigger a report to the IRS. In addition, if the bank has reason to believe a series of transactions are related, even if they're not on the same day, the bank is obligated to file a report. If you come into the bank every day for a week and withdraw $8,000, you could expect the bank to file a report.
Structured Transactions
Banks must also report transactions that are less than $10,000 when they believe that the dollar amount of those transactions was specifically chosen to avoid triggering the Bank Secrecy Act. Federal regulations refer to these as 'structured' transactions. Withdrawing $9,990 will probably raise a red flag as a potentially structured transaction. In fact, any transaction, regardless of the amount, that the bank deems suspicious can trigger a report.
Exceptions to the Rule
The law makes a few exceptions. A bank doesn't have to file a report on large cash transactions involving other banks or government agencies. It also allows banks to apply for exemptions for regular business customers. Casinos owned by caesars. If a bank has a department store as a customer, and that store's manager withdraws $20,000 in cash for the store safe or the registers, the bank doesn't have to make a report each time it happens. Instead, the bank can file a form with the IRS identifying the store as a regular business customer. This exemption must be renewed every year.
How Do Casinos Pay Out Large Sums Of Money Amounts