Traveling to Vegas with Cash

no, that law (over 10K) only applies when you enter/exit the country

Ok great. I'm just worried that when my carry-on bag goes through the TSA scanner and they see $25-50k cash at the bottom of it, they'll question me, give me a hard time, and maybe confiscate it.

I used to carry $5-10k cash in the pockets of my jeans and never take it out. I never had any trouble before. But now it's much more.

You will definitely be at risk of having it confiscated. There's a famous story of a well-known poker player that had it happen to him. i can't remember his name though.

Sounds like Viffer you are referring to. I've carried 50k or so through a few times with no problems. I always kept bank statement in the bag which i hoped could legitimize the origin but it never came up as a question. Now I just drive :-)

If you're planning on playing mainly at one property, I'd feel a lot safer wiring it. Not just because it could get seized, but it can also be lost, stolen, etc.

There is always a risk of seizure of cash. But that could be for $2000 or even less. The seizure laws are separate from requirement to declare entering or leaving country with $10k.

Theoretically any law enforcement officer can seize any money which they feel has committed a crime. Yes, the legal theory is that money can be a criminal. But as crazy as that sounds, the point is seizure and reporting are separate things.

The good news is that since reporting for interstate travel is not required so there is no reason for anyone to even know you are carrying that much cash. So odds of seizure are remote.

Properly packed they won’t see it on any X-ray and certainly not as a large amount of cash. Yhey are not looking for cash or anything like that so it won’t attract attention.

Convert to gold bars.

i love how 2+2 always stays on point :-)

some additional info for guys who actually enter/exit the US:

the tsa form you have to fill out is online available, you can download and fill out before you get there, then you just present it, whole process takes less than 2 minutes, last time they didn't even make me count the amount

If you have 25k on you and dont have drugs on you then you are not “definitely at risk” of having the cash seized just stop.

To reduce the risk of loss, theft or confiscation, I've considered just getting a cashier's check made out to myself from a bank that has locations in Vegas, like Wells Fargo, Chase or Citi. Call ahead and let them know the date arriving so they that much on hand then just take it to the branch and cash it. Wouldn't that be safer? discuss

This should work, too. I think a wire is probably easier if you're playing at one property (say, spending the whole time at Bellagio or Aria or playing WSOP events), but the cash is going to have a lot fewer strings attached, assuming a bank is willing to have that kind of cash on hand to cash a cashier's check for you.

Why not just deposit it in your bank account and withdraw it elsewhere by writing yourself a check.

Maybe banks near the Strip are a little different, but you typically cannot walk into a bank branch and cash a check for $25,000, at least not without giving them advance notice.

So give them an advanced notice.

Serious question. Do chips count as currency when traveling?

No. Checks, cashier's checks, money orders or chips all don't count. Only cash.