1st time in vegas

pocket9s

flying out to vegas ofter xmas.

after reading many threads on here i get the jist of the best places to stay, play, eat etc etc but:-

how do you buy in to bigger games??  only allowed $10k through customs and my bank will only allow £500 per day withdraw?? is it easy and safe to transfer money to hotel? or do you buy in via wiring money? prob a stupid question but looking to go out with a few friends and want to take a bit more than $10k!!

LOL_RAISE

you can take much more than $10k through customs, you just have to declare it. then they will ask you a few questions about why you have the money etc, which in LV isnt exactly unusual for people to ahve alot of money with them.

alternatively i think you can wire xfer to the casino's cage and then pick ur money up from there

beaneh

if you wire transfer don't do it through third parties. 

either direct from your bank to the cage of the casino your staying at. if you wire transfer you don't have to declare anything whilst going through customs or take cash.

you can as LR says take as much as you want through customs, if its $1 over 10k tell them so as to avoid the plastic glove treatment. unfortunately you're visiting a country with the education levels of an amoeba. I've had friends go through with a couple of coins over 10k which turned into a strip search and a massive telling off, and had friends who have taken 10k + 30k in assorted other currencies of which the customs people didn't seem to understand the value so waved him through.  completely inconsistent and silly but w/e you just have to deal with it. 

obviously make sure you've applied for your ESTA etc only takes a few days on the assumption you don't have a criminal record. 

specifically if you wire money to the cage, you will have a small amount of admin to do when getting it out, depending on the quantity and the way you take it. obviously they try to give you casino chips so you gamble lol and the bigger denomination chips are a real hassle because anything over 5k and they have to keep tonnes of records of who has them and why. if you go to cash a 5k chip you'll be asked where you got it most of the time, where you have been playing etc.  

wads of cash are easiest and normally all hotel rooms etc have safes.

It's Las Vegas, money is normal out there, tis very weird.

During the wsop they have one cashiers line for a little booth with a curtain for people with 'money boxes' inside the cage. Saw someone go up asking for a box being all coy like psst /whispsers "I have 30k I really need a money box please mrs" and the cashier just laughed and was like "no you don't come back when you're easily over 6/7 figures". 

edit- also don't take mirrions of small denomination travellers cheques only complete morons would allow their bank to give them that!

edit 2 also obviously for the cash games people just have some small change in chips and the rest in 100 dollar bills on the table. it allows for a myriad of ways to cheat and angle shoot you so be very careful and always try and get the money to go through the dealer at the table (especially if you're not used to $s)

bearlyther

In Response to Re: 1st time in vegas:

unfortunately you're visiting a country with the education levels of an amoeba. I've had friends go through with a couple of coins over 10k which turned into a strip search and a massive telling off, and had friends who have taken 10k + 30k in assorted other currencies of which the customs people didn't seem to understand the value so waved him through.  Posted by beaneh

+1 to this ive had Americans complimenting me on my english telling me is very good when they find out im from Ireland and couldnt get the concept gathered in their head that i cant speak Irish!  Also when i worked in Florida In Disney  in the uk pavilion in Florida fish and chips would be on the menu and they would ask me what flavour are the chips in their minds thinking they are crisps in American terms!