Australia, and I am sure other countries, have used plastic bills for 20+ years. It greatly extends the life of the bill. A $1 US bill last maybe a year, a plastic bill is almost eternal.

The United States Secret Service would like you to Know Your Money!
http://www.secretservice.gov/know_your_money.shtml

A recently aired American Greed ( http://www.cnbc.com/id/40535918 ) covered a modern counterfeiter. It was actually pretty interesting. They figured out that phone book paper passes the pen test, and that it's half thickness so you can put two sheets together and it is just perfect. Which also means you can sandwich between those sheets fake USA 100 plastic bands and portrait outlines to fool the watermark test. And he figured out how to do the red+blue threads. And while you can't purchase the exact shades of color shifting ink the US uses on currency, you can buy stuff that's very close--as the counterfeiter stated, people aren't looking for specific colors, they're just looking to see if the color changes. (And North Korea, as it happens, purchased the rights to use a color shifting ink that is almost identical to that used on US currency from the same company the US gets it from--we only bought exclusive rights to our exact colors, not all those a hair's difference from it.)

What the guy never figured out how to do was the microprinting. But nobody ever checks that--when was the last time you saw someone pull out a jeweler's loop to check your $100?

I've never been too happy with the hot-potato theory of counterfeit law. Whoever ends up holding the bill when it's figured out to be a counterfeit is the loser. There is 0-benefit to turning in a suspected counterfeit--you simply lose the money and will probably get your name in a Secret Service file. And it's hard to figure out whom you are harming by continuing to pass bills you think may be fake--and after all, it's not YOUR job to detect these. So the bills just keep going from person to person even when people become suspicious of them.

I don't see UV lights very many places. 7-11's and the like seem to be about the only folks paranoid enough to use 'em. Definitely never seen one at a poker cage. And I've only once seen a 7-11 clerk stick a bill under the light.

My local seven eleven won't even take hundreds

Odd thing is, even in Vegas where $100's flow like $5's in most cities, 7-11's and the like don't want to take $100's. But they all have slot machines, and those are paid out by the clerk. So if you come in with a $100 and want to buy a $.79 Big Gulp, they send you to the slot machines. You put in the $100 and hit CASHOUT. Now the clerk can get 5*$20 out of the computerized safe.

And for OP... the "correct" solution to passing on your $100's is probably to do the above. Visit a slot machine and insert the bill. If it takes it, presumably a raft of counterfeit detection stuff in the machine, including magnetic ink detectors which I'd guess few counterfeiters and no cashiers worry about, has deemed it "good".

A few good ways to see if a bill is fake, after holding it up to a light and seeing the USA 100 ribbon in it, slightly tear the bill across where the ribbon should be. If there is any resistance when you go to tear it then it is real, if you can rip right across where the ribbon is then there is no ribbon in the paper and it is fake.

Another good way is to try and strike a match off of the bill. If the match lights it is a real bill, it could still be a washed fiver but it is a real note.

just wanted to thank mods for taking out the casino info for me, don't know who to pm so ill just post

You should always carry a counterfeit pen. Costs like $6 in any Office Depot. I've seen counterfeits several times. They never seem to get the eyes right and once the bill looked like they left it in the washing machine too long.

I'd suggest carrying the pen because as we get closer to a war with Iran, we might be inundated with Supernotes as Iran is ground zero for faking U.S. $100's with high quality paper. And, if they planned on sabotaging our country with it might send a bunch of persian "students" on a high-rolling vegas trip.

if you don't think we the capability to make a Rial... you're nuts 350

I always understood that it was the North Koreans who have turned counterfeiting our money into an industry.

But wait a minute, why am I even commenting on the ridiculous post you made.