Cash or cage?

[TheHypnoToad]

I'm planning on travelling abroad to play blackjack with a partner. Our trip bankroll will be around $50K. We're travelling to an area with a high concentration of casinos so I'll need to have cash when I'm there so that I can freely move between them and be properly bankrolled.

But what's the best way to get cash there in the first place? Is it better to wire money to one of the casinos (presumably the most reputable and/or the one where we plan on spending more time) or to carry cash on the plane between us?

A few things to consider, though I'm not sure how to weigh them up

• If you wire the money to the casino, they can potentially withhold your entire trip bankroll. Though this seems unlikely for legal and/or reputational reasons. But still, there's some credit risk and I know of some incidents where this has happened (though they got the money back in the end).
• Carrying cash comes with risk of loss/theft
• Carrying cash means extra declarations at various border controls
• Wiring a lot of cash gives you immediate prestige at the casino which might increase comps etc.

I'm currently favouring the cage but I'm interested to hear some views on this. Risk of loss/theft seems to be the overriding reason to me...

Thanks in advance!

[moo321]

Hmm, you could look into the requirements to declare cash for the various casinos you're visiting. Currency conversions costs could be a significant factor as well. You'll also want to look at the tax implications: US will want to tax your income, other jurisdictions may tax it as well.

I don't have any experience with this, so I'll defer to others.

[RWM]

I would use some cash, and some $1000 Traveler's checks. I would NOT wire the money to a casino.

[happyjack21]

Travelers checks.
&
sent you a PM

[TheHypnoToad]

Thanks for the responses. A couple of follow ups, if you don't mind!

1) Will travellers checks likely be exchanged at the same rate as cash or will there be an admin fee/charge? The destination I'm visiting generally has no spread on the exchange rate.
2) Will they likely let you change local currency back for the travellers check? I don't want to end up with loads of local currency, just my gains (if any) which I can change up.

[TheHypnoToad]

The main downside of travellers checks, as far as I can see, is that you need to pay a commission. I'm looking at 1.5% just to get the checks themselves. Is it normal for the cage to be able to make a debit or credit card transaction in the currency of my bank account and then change that up for me? Doesn't sound likely to me but you never know...

[moo321]

Can you comment as to where (generally) you're going? People may have more specific advice if you said "I'm going to Europe/Caribbean/Asia" etc.

[RWM]

Agree with Moo. If coming to the US you do not want the casino to know who you are so you don't want to give ID to cash checks. Here in the US you can get Traveler's checks free by being a member of AAA or sometimes other ways. In many places the exchange rate for TC is better than the rate for cash. Also, in many countries the casino will sell you back your original cash at the same rate they got it from you.

One idea I have used in the Caribbean is to wire the money to casino A and stay there on a comp playing in a manner that will not get any heat. Using some of that money to play at other places on the island. But there is a problem with that as well. The islands are small places and they communicate. If you are winning at a casino they will probably find out where you are staying and get the info on you from that casino. I once had the casino manager from Casino A show up to watch me play at Casino B. He asked me why I was spending so much time at Casino B when he was comping me at Casino A.

By far the best idea is to establish a network so when you go to a foreign country you can do cash transactions with a local.

[TheHypnoToad]

I'm not travelling to the US or EU. The casinos know who you are anyway as you have to show ID just to play (sometimes just to get in) so there are no anonymity issues. The only firm issues are risk of loss and costs (commissions, FX spreads etc.).

There are some casinos where I don't expect to get too much heat as there are opportunities for advanced techniques and because of a rebate scheme I'll be betting bigger and spreading less than usual (to increase variance and therefore rebate option value and more generally to keep the valuable rebate in place). They're also regulated so I think they would be unlikely to want to withhold cage monies but still...it's still a risk having a foreign casino hold most of your bankroll! (I'm not being xenophobic, just that it's harder to take legal action in a country where you don't live and understand the law as well)

After much searching around, I managed to find somewhere that does low commissions on travellers cheques (0.5% with a 0% buy-back) so I'm going to go with that. It's still annoying as it's difficult to buy large amounts in a single transaction but I can build up enough for most of a trip bankroll.

Thanks for your comments and good luck!

[ZenMaster_Flash]

RWM,

The largest Traveller's Cheques that I have seen recently are $100 denominations.

Who is printing them at the $1,000 level ?

[RWM]

It has been quite a few years but I was able to get 1000 American Express checks but they had to be special ordered. I believe they also had 250s and 500s.

By the way they really don't like it if you try to leave without signing them.

from Frommers website

You can get traveler's checks at almost any bank. American Express offers denominations of $20, $50, $100, $500, and (for cardholders only) $1,000. You'll pay a service charge ranging from 1% to 4%. You can also get American Express traveler's checks over the phone by calling tel. 800/221-7282 or online at travel.americanexpress.com/travel/personal/resources/essentials_advice; Amex gold and platinum cardholders who use this number are exempt from the 1% fee. AAA members can obtain checks without a fee at most AAA offices.

Read more: http://www.frommers.com/articles/217.html#ixzz2EtHn5ujm

[dharmaprija]

In order for them to sell you back your currency at the same exchange rate they will require you to have the original documentation. This document should be endorsed when initially given to you. Watch them, they may try to not stamp or validate the initial transaction reciept so later they can exchange at a lower rate. Visa is everywhere ya wanna be, lol. Find a bank with branches/affiliates in that country and wire the money, since you will be an account holder, no fees. Carrying cash isn't that big a deal, the big drawback is the occasional "Rambo" TSA dutchbeg...er...hot water bottle. lmao.