I pretty much agree with you Fore, but the 10k "limit" keeps you much more under the radar as you don't have to declare it and are likely to just be waved through. I'm sure that people declaring over 10k are much more prone to being searched and definitely have to answer more questions where a suspicious or ambivalent answer gets you a ton of scrutiny that you wouldn't get otherwise.

FWIW, I've frequently flown into Las Vegas as a first entry into the US, nonstop from Panama, or London. Although I never carry cash anything like y'all are discussing, and I have a US passport and Global Entry, I've never gotten so much as a second glance walking from baggage claim past Customs. I've been pulled aside for baggage inspection on occasion in other entry cities, but only once was my luggage really tossed through, coming from Amsterdam.

In general, I don't think it's very useful to project immigration / customs experiences of US citizens or LPR to the ones of foreigners.

Even if those tourists hold a friendly passport like EU/UK.

Also, "never carrying cash..." when the discussion is about declaring large amounts of cash.

What worked? Did you find a good solution?

Can’t speak for the OP but I’m going for WSOP and trying to get a wire sorted. Not as easy as it could be. Found the info on wiring but seems to need to become a caesars rewards member which it won’t let me do (says can’t accept from EU countries even though it’s uk).
Just finally in email touch with WSOP support and waiting to see what they say.

I'm experiencing that very issue as well, let us know how you progress.

I am going to Vegas next Month and I am taking 20k with me cash in $100 bills from the uk. I am not worried at all. I'll be declaring the cash and have also decided to take copies of bank statements showing the currency purchase over the last 6 months for the 20 k. I also looked at sending money to the casino directly but found it was going to be to difficult to do it from uk OR they would not allow me to spend the money anywhere other the the casino I transferred my funds to.

What a lot of Americans don't understand is our ATM limits are very low compared to what they can take out. We can only get £300-£500 a day out and for some maybe slightly more but we don't have the limits for 3k a time for example.

Coming to Vegas for the first time this summer from the UK and was wondering if there if there's anything I need to know in terms of money. See a lot of stuff about people "bringing money over".. can you not just use your card when in Vegas? Might be a stupid question but I'm confused.

the key dynamic is how much you can withdraw per day vs how big you want to play.

Other consideration is you'll probably pay a worse exchange rate plus ATM fees vs changing at home and bringing it over then

Yes you can use your card when abroad but UK banks are evil with charges for FX. What is a good idea is to open up a Monzo account which is really easy to do. They do not charge FX fees and the rate you get is pretty much spot rate when you use it. I believe you can also withdraw a small amount ($600) a month on it for no charge. I also take an amount I want to gamble with me in cash and use Hays Travel (you may have one in your town). The rate they give you is pretty good and they also do a buy back guarantee for around £3 so they will buy it back at the rate they sold it to you.

So all my non gambling transactions get put on my card then gambling and tips are all cash transactions. Works for me OP

Bring money for tips. Everyone in vegas gets tipped, if you don't they'll shun you.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

The second part was certainly true in the past but today most "modern" card issuers don't even have branches anymore where you can physically exchange money. OTOH, because they don't have overhead, they are usually way cheaper in every regard including exchange rates. In most cases that should be significantly cheaper than exchanging at Western Union for example.

Pretty sure the vast majority of tourists doesn't run into any issues if they have a couple cards with $2000/day withdrawal limit each. That obviously doesn't apply to high rollers though. If you need $100k, trying to get that from ATMs doesn't sound much fun..

That said, you can use credit cards to buy into the bigger WSOP events but you might have to raise your limit on the card ahead of time. And you pay 3.5% (?) in fees with international cards compared to 3ish% on a US card.

Hi WalesPoker,

What it comes down to is UK Card Limits ( The amount we can withdraw from an ATM V How much you might want to gamble per day.) For example My card allows me to withdraw £500 a Day in the UK which would be fine BUT When I go to Vegas I want to Gamble a lot More than this in a Day so I now have a Problem, Do I now take more Cards for the ATMS to rack up even more fees (I would need 6 Bank cards, withdrawing 500 for each card per day for 7 days straight) or Do I purchase My currency Cash in UK ( Which Will be my gambling Money) and then used my card for all other charges which then allows me flexibility. ( By the way I charge anything I can to my room account so I can rack up points and get comps at the end of my stay)

I like to spend approx 3.5k a Day on Gambling for 7 Days so If I were to take 7 Bank cards with each card incurring fees etc to take cash out very quickly it would cost me a small fortune, so I take the cash, Declare it to customs and go have fun. ATMS don't work for me and my 20k-25k budget JUST for gambling BUT If I were to spend a lot less say my budget was 5K for the trip for a week then I can understand some people using cards to get money as and when.

It really does depend on your budget, You can also wire money to the casino direct BUT for Uk visitors Its not that straight forward and as I found out recently, I can only spend that cash at that one casino and not use it like a bank ( Take money and spend at another property) hence why cash really is King in Vegas for gambling in a world where card payments are king, not so much in vegas for gambling.

I would also point out that it really does depend on what you going to vegas for. Some come to vegas for a week and spent $1000 and have a ball but they don't gamble much, others like me like to take much more and for me gambling is my number 1 reason for going, I spend very little on shows or fancy restaurants, although I do get free comps for food so in a round about way its included in gambling I guess.

No matter what you do you will have a blast, I got in less that 2 weeks and can't wait lol.

Hope this helps.

Subtlety is not your long suit, is it ?

Who is "projecting" anything ? I just reported on my actual experience, and, yes, I am a US person.

You got an issue with my post, take it to a mod.

What is your "very useful" contribution to the knowledge pool in this thread, do you have experience as a non-US person with bringing cash into the US ?

You really think that in the instance where Las Vegas is someone's port of entry, during the WSOP, that customs here will be tying to STOP cash from coming into the market ?

You might be projecting there.
Yes, I do.

I've done immigration as a non-US person >10 times over the last decade with various amounts of cash. I've also done immigration as a US-person >10 times over the last decade with various amounts of cash.

Wtf happened to you today gzesh? Jesus ****, take a chill pill.

seems like the kind of attitude the TSA wouldn’t think kindly of?

Im bringing $25k in cash from the UK next week will be declared of course. Not expecting any issues will report back if get locked in a basement room for hours and the money stolen by immigration officers.

Declare funds here for leaving or entering the UK maximum 3 days before you travel £10k or more.

https://www.gov.uk/bringing-cash-int...%20declaration.

Can also pre declare here on the US end as well as the CBP Declaration Form 6059B on the flight over.

https://fincen105.cbp.dhs.gov/#/

Start a gofundme now so that when we, err they, take your money you already have a little built up to tap in to.

Cheers for the message, understand a lot more now. Will look at sending some money to the WSOP cause know they faciliate sending money there but guess will have to bring 30k or so in cash. In the US they withhold cashes over a certain amount right? So I guess the play is to bring as much as you're willing to buy in for as you won't be getting any money back straight away? Thanks

If you are a tax resident in a country that has a tax treaty with the US (to avoid double taxation) and have an ITIN number, there are no withholdings.

I think that you'd get paid the balance amount not withheld, right away .... so you can gamble it up at the casino

This falls into the category of good trouble to have.

Complete non issue except adding 20 minutes to my trip. He didnt even count it just asked if i was playing poker looked at the cash got the fincen 105 form for me to complete told him i had already done it online. Checked his computer to make sure the declaration was on the system once it was waved me through with a good luck.