I recently received an email from a slot director with whom I’m friendly. It read:
I’ve had a number of customers ask me what banks in Las Vegas are gambler friendly, meaning they understand how “professional gambler” is an actual profession and as such, banks would be used to multiple deposits, withdrawals etc. in varying amounts and timing.
Can you recommend a bank or credit union?
It’s an excellent question and probably of general interest. I can’t recommend any such banks or credit unions because that’s not the way I do business. So, I have no relevant banking experience, but I can tell you how I deal with this problem.
On a personal basis, I keep a supply of cash in safety-deposit boxes around town and use lines of credit at casinos. This means I forgo some interest on cash, but I avoid having to make many withdrawals. When I hit a “sizeable” jackpot, whether I take cash or check depends on my cash balances in various places. (Banks are always willing to take deposits. It’s frequent withdrawals with which they sometimes get concerned.)
If I need some cash and don’t wish to go to a bank, I’ll plan to make a sizeable play at one of the casinos where I have a line of credit. If I take, say, a $20,000 marker, I’ll plan to play $80,000 in coin-in and pay off the marker by check the same day, whether I win or lose. (If I lose more than that, I’ll take another marker.) This will leave me with cash on hand without having to withdraw from a bank. Yes, there’s some variance (meaning sometimes I win and sometimes I lose), but I’m in the gambling business and I’m used to these kinds of swings. The game I’ll be playing isn’t going to be terrible and if I do take a bath, that’s the time to ask for a big comp somewhere.
I also have money in more than one bank account (at separate banks). So, when those losing streaks occur and I need to withdraw $20K or so but don’t wish to go the line-of-credit route, I’ll withdraw from the bank I haven’t withdrawn from recently. That keeps my withdrawals from being flagged as “frequent.”
Finally, whether it’s in safety-deposit boxes or in a bank account, I have a fairly large position in cash, rather than having the money invested. To me, this is just a cost of doing business.
How large is “fairly large” depends on the player, of course. Players who play progressives need larger bankrolls than those who don’t. Players who play $5 machines need larger bankrolls than those who play 25 cent machines. Players who play Triple Double Bonus need larger bankrolls than those who play Jacks or Better.
If it comes to it, I also have money invested in the stock market and other places. I can always generate money by selling stocks or bonds. I’d rather not go this route, but it’s a safety net if I need it.
I understand that not every player is able to have such a cash position. I also realize that this column will generate emails accusing me of rubbing it in people’s faces that I have more money than they do. That can’t be helped. If the ideas I share here are useful to you, use them. If not, I apologize if it makes you feel bad and/or mad at me.
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The “Duke of Fremont Street” carries his money around in a violin case. Of course, he was mugged at least once.
It is very common for video poker players to have large amounts of cash in various places. Such players are generally aware that bank deposits of cash over $10,000 can cause the generation of Suspicious Activity Reports.
How could anyone be upset or mad at you Bob?? hehe..
all you do is to try and help or give us good advice 🙂
Good article Bob, and this $1 player isn’t offended at all.
Re the “frequent” withdrawals, Wells-Fargo has recently set their standards down to the freaked-out paranoid level.
My checking acct activity commonly has entries of ATM ATM ATM, etc. – and it’s been that way for many years. But recently, after making the usual w/d amount, I’m getting email alerts about “unusual activity” (and they want me to reply that it’s OK).
So, you are – as usual – absolutely correct about spreading the money around.
Again, a $1 player, so I buy in to a full pay JoB session for $500 … but now W-F is on red alert for that $ amount of ATM withdrawal(!)
Always enjoy reading your posts, and thanks again for this one.
Just an fyi, some banks will close a safety-deposit box if cash is kept in it.
In all likelihood those alerts from W-F are just them trying to detect/prevent someone that has stolen or cloned your card from getting away with any significant amount of cash. Not something they would be reporting to the IRS or Feds.
So east coast/ west coast banking choices: WF, BOA and ?
If you die, your safety deposit boxes may be locked down until your estate is settled and the government gets done nosing into your finances. This could cause a problem for your heirs or any business/gambling partners.
That’s odd. For one thing, how does a bank know that there is cash in a SDB? Secondly, there’s nothing illegal about keeping cash in a SDB, as long as it’s not done to hide undeclared income.
–Dunbar
I watched the Netflix or Prime about an A.P. player. Sorry, the name of the program escapes me at the moment. It was ok mostly, but really pushed the limit when the star of the program needed cash. He flew home to Las Vegas, got 250 k in cash, stuffed all his pockets and socks and flew back to the midwest.
Really??? I’m supposed to believe this smarter than smart dude carried all that cash through the airport, through TSA check points, back to bum fudge Illinois unmolested??? yeah ok, maybe Santa will bring my gambling money in a one horse sleigh
That was probably before TSA.
Odd that someone who preaches about the value of exploiting very small advantages would, over the course of many years, forego all the interest and other perks one can derive from carrying large bank balances. Perhaps he is not as astute as he seems. More likely he is attempting to avoid proper reporting of his income. If he really has all the casino connections that he professes to have, surely he could get longer settlement terms on his markers. I, personally, have negotiated up to 4 weeks to settle markers. If he really wanted to be helpful to others, he would have revealed creative ways to defer marker settlements. One note of general interest to all: the IRS does still pay a 10% or more bounty to those who report tax scofflaws.
Not trying to speak for Bob Dancer here, but as far as markers, most APs don’t use them at all, especially because disputes over markers in Las Vegas can get nasty legally. Whereas in most states an unpaid marker would be treated as a civil issue like a credit card debt, Vegas treats them as felonies (like a bad check), and the DA is incentivized to use this leverage to collect on behalf of the casinos (I believe the DA used to get 6% of monies collected). Vegas can even have gamblers extradited (I believe this happened to a Chicago man). Negotiating extensions on payback just to get a little float would not be worth the exposure, as a shift-level boss would have to weigh in on that decision. As for banks, most APs don’t use them as a primary place to store cash for the simple reason that banks make access to your cash difficult! The ATM limit is puny. Going to a teller will not work if you are overseas, if it’s a Sunday, if it’s after 4pm, if it’s before 9:30am, if it’s a Saturday afternoon, if you’re on the wrong side of town and it’s rush hour, or if you need more than 15k or so on short notice (because then the bank will say they don’t have that much cash). Banks do not have much cash. Even with proper ID, CTRs, and all necessary paperwork, too many cash transactions will cause your account to be red-flagged, and the bank might just close the account on you. This has happened to multiple teammates of mine who were making “big” or frequent cash transactions to their bank account. Banks have become extremely inconvenient in the last three years. It wasn’t always so bad.
I can attest. When we were betting in the Mattress Mack hedge, the banks were almost useless for our purposes. We used them to wire in money, then took it out right away in cashier’s checks. We had to make arrangements with the books at which we were betting to leave money in the casino cage and ensure they would allow us easy access. Still that wasn’t good enough and large sums were stashed in cash. Had we not done that, we’d have been shut out on weekends, when half of the games we bet were being played. Even when just considering the potential need for cash for unforeseen opportunities, the amount in interest you can earn in a bank account is paltry in comparison to the trade-off for access.
I haven’t used a bank account since 2005.
The-American-guardian.com it’s a safe deposit box facility five minutes away from the main strip. I use them for years. You welcome.
Im from outta state and travel to vegas every other week for sportsbook, my question is do you think having a gambling accout through the casino (southpiint, circa) leaving money in account (players card) with casinos, is safe?
Does anyone know if leaving funds with casinos on your players card for online betting also, (gambling account) is safe, im from outta state so leaving a good amount in account would help traveling and bank transactions, untill i want to deposit profits.
Yes. I am quite interested in advice from fellow gaming community. I gamble full time on the east coast. My bank is fine with my multiple cash deposits whether they are weekly or daily. however i will admit i dont make enough in a day to trigger a ctr. i have my own system in which i play and goals for my profits. my only issue is i casino hop alot and thus i need to keep my bankroll in cash for immediate access. Depositing the profits, since they are each under 2k at each casino is always iin cash. i have been transparent with my bank about source of funds. Im only trying to figure out how to implement this exact same strategy when i decide to start gambling in vegas full time for extended periods of time. problem is my east coast bank does not have branches on the west coast. and i do not gamble at only one property. i go to multiple daily.