Question of the Day - 11 January 2023

It's very handy to not travel from home to Las Vegas carrying a large amount of cash. Now and then you'll read about someone that had a problem going thru airport security with lots of cash on their person or in their carryon bag. Sometimes the cash is seized at some airport by law enforcement thinking you've done criminal activity. Or the money gets stolen or misplaced somewhere along the way. Much safer to travel to Vegas with a minimum amount of money, then go to the 24 hr casino cashier and get your vacation money in various amounts as needed. It's essentially a paper bank check drawn on your bank account that the casino holds. You can pay the casino back at the end of your trip with your winnings and they cancel the check, or you tell the casino to process the check thru your bank account. I set this up years ago and have never regretted it, big peace of mind not walking around with excess cash on me, or having to leave it in the room safe or at the hotel front desk safe. 

In my younger days I used to use it in both AC & Vegas. Interest free $ for 30 days! I was so intrigued I once bounced from AC to LAS using nothing but casino $. I was thinking of telling the casinos involved just pay each other every 30 days & deal me out!

I've been using casino credit for many years.  It's great not to have to carry thousands of dollars of cash around.  If you play machines you can just ask for a machine voucher which is a lot easier than feeding a large number of $100s into the machine to start your session.  As Drabel noted, if you don't pay the casino can just use your marker like a check at your bank.  If, like me, you don't like having that hanging over your head, you can just write a check for the amount owed and redeem your markers at the end of the trip (or if you had a successful trip, you can just pay them back out of your winnings).

I also don't like owing money, but I use casino credit just like I use credit cards - primarily for convenience, and, of course, in the case of the credit cards for the cash back I get just for buying things I'd buy anyway.  I'd strongly recommend casino credit for anyone who plays regularly and at reasonably high levels ($1 or higher machines, $25 or higher table bets).

So does the casino that extends you credit expect you to play ALL the money they give you only at their casino? Would casino credit work for a player such as me who splits their time at 3-4 casinos each trip in order to get offers from many casinos? I would think they would frown upon you playing only 25-50% at at their tables and slots but I may be wrong. Someone educate me please! Thanks. 

There’s no credit check on your credit report, so your credit won’t get dinged for a hard check on your credit history. It’s actually more like check writing privileges rather than true credit and like the answer states they’re more interested in how much you carry in the checking account you’ll be using to pay off your markers. 

I've never had my markers mailed back to me. Both MGM and CZR properties.

What I've read about this:  The casino certainly intends that you use (and lose) all your credit money at their casino rather that take it and lose it elsewhere.  Why else would they offer this convenience?  

But I've never done it, so if anyone has experience along that line their answer(s) will be better.  Like bringing your own money from the house, use it (and lose it) where you want to.

Candy

Casino credit does not show on your credit report because it is essentially a check writing privilege. It sure is a lot better than paying ATM fees.  Just know that it usually takes those 90 days for your bank or the cage to approve your credit or an increase if you ask for one.  Most casinos have the application on their website so you can apply ahead of your trip.        

Followup-
When I get the money from the cage drawn against my casino credit there aren't any stipulations on it's use. Of course they'd prefer I spend it at their casino but it's not required. I've not had any problem over the years of getting the money from one casino and using it at various restaurants, attractions and other casinos in town. They've never revoked or reduced the amount I can get, I've never gotten a letter or phone call about it. I think it's just a convenience they offer, probably from back in the day when not everything was profit-motivated. And if you're a player that doesn't use a players card all the time they don't have an easy way to see if you spent the money at their casino.

I haven’t used casino credit in almost 25 years.  I had accounts at Harrahs and the Taj in Atlantic City. In those days, if you didn’t pay off your marker when you left they collected it from your bank account in two weeks. 
As for using it in another casino….how would they know?  As long as you give  the lending casino a reasonable amount of play, they aren’t going to follow you around to make sure you don’t take off with their dough. 😏
One time I took a marker at the Taj.  After the cashier/supervisor handed me the cash, he said, “Now remember, you can’t use this to play poker.”  I smiled, nodded and headed directly to the poker room. 😁. Made enough to pay off the marker and take some home. 😉

Just to follow up on what others wrote - the casino doesn't really know what you use the money for.  As long as you pay it back at the end of your trip or they use the marker to pull it from your checking account it really makes no difference. As others were noted, it's really just a form of approved check writing privilege.