Not sure if this is the correct place to post, but was wondering if there is a limit on the amount of cash that is allowed to be carried on an airplane? Heading to Vegas from Atlanta and needed to know if 20k is okay to carry on?

Yes

if over 10k , they may ask ... Do you have over 10k? Just answer yes and , why you do. Formality...

The 10k thing is not for domestic flights. Just for international flights, you fill out a customs paper when traveling with 10k+ Don't put the cash in th tray to go thru with your metal objects. Leave it in your pocket. If they pat you down and ask you to empty pockets, then ask for a private room. If they continue to pester you abOt it which they shouldn't... Tell them you're going to Vegas and show your boarding pass if your response isnt good enough for them and they're beIng a PITA.

You are allowed to carry as much as you want. However, if they for some reason find it (why would they?) they will probably ask you why you have it, so better have a good story ready or some bank withdrawal slips or at least a tax return or something. Why do you have that much cash? Need to be able to explain that.

Just make sure your carry on doesn't have any metal or anything else that may arouse suspicion and put the cash in it. You will go through fine as long as you don't look sketchy enough to draw a "random" search

On my most recent flight I chose security screening lines poorly and ended up in one of the few at McCarran that were running the body scanner (no way the occasional naked 10 going through can make up for looking at hundreds of 1's and 2's all day). You have to completely empty your pockets to go through those, which I wasn't quite prepared for. So I just stuffed my kizzash and wallet deep into my shoes as quickly and casually as possible before putting 'em through the x-ray and stepping into the scanner.

There is no domestic limit on carrying cash. But in the US today, law enforcement can seize property on a whim--cars and cash in particular. You can get it back after a lengthy legal process by proving it's not the proceeds of illegal activity, but it'll be very annoying and expensive for a while. So there is a very small risk to traveling with lotsa cash.

Here's Viffer's well-known post detailing his difficulties at the airport: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/19...velers-398198/

I have a friend that works for TSA, and like others said, under 10k shouldn't be a problem, but over 10k they will question it.

Wire money to the cage.

I fly from Hartsfield to McCarren several times a year with about that much on me. In Atlanta, find the security line that doesn't use the body scanner. You will be fine. If you put your wad in your bag or shoe and not on your person, make sure you keep an eye on it while you walk through the detector. I've been selected to go through that extra search, while my cash and my watch were on the belt before. I simply told the TSA agent that I couldn't follow him until he or I took control over my belongings.

Out of Vegas, I think there's only one of those scanner things to worry about.

Just give a honest reply and don't make any jokes. Especially if you are allergic to latex.

Twice coming from Canada have brought over $20,000 and both times you just tick the over $10,000 box on the customs card. They ask you why you tell them and they say have a nice day

Oh your on a domestic flight no worries

I've heard horror stories about that taking way longer then expected, so I'd rather avoid that option.

I bank with BOA so luckily I can just swing by the one on Spring Mountain after I get there to get my cash.

This.

Just remember, they can seize any amount if they deem it was from illegal activity, and there's nothing you can do about it.

"I play poker for a living, I'm going to Vegas to play in the WSOP" herp derp

Listen, when you go through the body scanner, they make you take everything out of your pockets...Hold the money in your hand. And you're fine.

I left Vegas and had $20k on me, showed it to the TSA and said I didn't want it to go through the X-RAY and would prefer to keep it in my pocket so everyone didn't see I had a ton of cash on me, they said fine. That was that.

The rest of you are paranoid idiots. On a domestic flight there will be no problems carrying cash.

Got through. No questions asked, left if in my carry on.

Police can and do seize large amounts of cash. If they suspect it is involved business. It is then up to you to prove that it is clean, but the whole process of having your money returned to you can take months.

True, but enough with this paranoia. You're flying in and out of Vegas for Christ's sake. Do you think people don't fly in and out of there with tremendous amounts of money on a daily basis?

There are zero laws restricting how much money you can fly with, within the united states. It's simple. If they question what the money is for, tell them exactly the truth.

It's amazing how this same thread pops up at the end of May each year and the only story that is mentioned of a seizure is Viffer, who if I'm not mistaken bought a one way ticket soon before his flight in cash. Therefore the red flag.

KingBB, Bav, JayLV, etc can shed more accurate light on wiring the money, or taking a line of credit but from what I understand the casino basically expects you to spend that dough in the pits. They aren't your bank.

You'll be fine op. you're doing nothing wrong. Don't act like it or believe otherwise.

Jay,

Wrong. Sorry. Read the Viffer thread.

I use the Viffer thread because he's a well known poker player we can all relate to. There are MANY other examples.

Daniel Negreanu had trouble leaving the country with lotsa cash to play in some Caribbean tournament which he documented in his blog a couple years ago. He'd dutifully checked the ">$10K" box and still was dragged out and detained for a long while, almost missing his flight, and only making it apparently because some law dog recognized him and told the others to leave him alone.

Phoenix airport alone seized over $3 million in 2011. http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/val...arcotics_t.php This is worth reading just for the couple stories within, including the line, "he noticed the guy had an awkward gait.They took the suspect to a private room and soon found $96,000 in two tightly packed rolls tucked into his butt cheeks." The humorous comment above about latex isn't really that far fetched.

The famous Ron Paul guy who was grabbed and threatened by TSA simply for having $4700 in cash (demonstrating that there's nothing at all magical about $10K... TSA and DEA and friends have no more right to take $470,000 from you than $470): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEJpzVPmih0 (Yes, he was sorta asking for it by being uncooperative, but he has the Constitutional right to be uncooperative--silly 4th and 5th amendments are so annoying.)

It happens all the time that folks traveling with cash to buy cars, pay for medical procedures, gamble, or whatever have their money taken from them without cause. Simply having that much in cash can be used by itself as evidence of guilt at the discretion of the officers involved. And somehow the US courts have allowed the perversion to continue. To get your money back you must prove it is not illicit booty; The burden of proof shifts to you.

Just because you've carried $50K in cash on you 8 times without a problem doesn't mean you won't have a problem. If 1% of the time your cash is taken from you, most travelers will never have it happen. It's not a risk worth losing enormous sleep over, but it's a risk. Having some evidence of where you got the money may help (a bank receipt showing you withdrew it a few days ago, say, in preparation for your trip).

Herp derp... bav said it all, but you have to be pretty naive to think that excuse will do the trick. Once again, many people have had their money, money that was legally obtained, confiscated by the police. At that point the burden of proof is on you, and saying you play poker for a living doesn't prove a whole lot on the surface, so bye bye money - hire an attorney and let him make a case for you.

Like bav said, it's not a huge concern, but there is a real risk, and to assert that everyone is a paranoid idiot is disingenuous.


Are you really saying a casino doesn't want you to wire a bunch of money to their casino in which they hand you your money in their casino? This isn't a Pokerstars player transfer. Vegas casinos love it when you wire a bunch of money to their cage.

So what happens when you ship the MAIN EVENT? Can you carry on duffle bags full of cash as long as they fit in the overhead bin?

That's what I plan on doing.

These threads pop up all the time, but the discussion is more warranted than some of you think. This shouldn't be a 1% issue. It should be one in 10 million issue. I'm at the airport right now in Ft. Lauderdale and am getting worked up thinking of the injustices that occur at airports. Personally, I very much look forward to having the means to not have to fly commercially.

As for the wiring money to the cage, I can speak from my gaming education at UNLV that casinos are not in the business of letting you use their financial services for non-gaming activity. You can do some general banking in conjunction with gaming, but there are some provisions in place to ensure you're not wiring money to a casino cage for non-gaming purposes. As a poker player at a Caesar's property, wiring money for the WSOP is acceptable and encouraged.

In general if you're wiring money in advance to a casino cage, you have to redeem your funds at table games as markers. Markers can be obtained for high limit slot players too, but of course this isn't much of an issue since there aren't many properties which cater to slot players who plan on losing tens of thousands of dollars.

Casinos are required to follow many of the regulations they do to prevent money laundering. If money laundering is your intention, imagine how easy it would be to use a casino to do so without these rules.

On a final note before I board my plane, these body scanners are brutal. Taking out big wads of cash and holding it over your head while the TSA agents glare at you with suspicion is uncomfortable and annoying. I hate what TSA has become in this country and around the world.

What ico said is correct, they want any front money (whether it's wired or a line of credit) to be used in the pits. Why would they want to take the risk of either holding your money or granting you credit if you're not going to then gamble it in their casino (and note that playing poker is not "gambling it in their casino"). There will be places like the Rio that allow you to get that money for poker, but in general it's a YMMV scenario. Sometimes it'll work, sometimes it won't, and they really frown on taking a $5k marker at a blackjack table, playing one $10 hand and then coloring up.