Has anyone been the victim of civil asset forfeiture for carry cash as a poker player? What was your experience?

If not, has the threat of police seizing your poker money changed the way you behave?

Don't talk to police. Don't agree to a search of your vehicle/property.

There shouldn't be any way that police can seize your money that's properly secured in your vehicle.

What about if they seize your vehicle? It's definitely happened before.

Actually, in most U.S. states it is legal for the police to seize any amount of money if they allege that it is involved in a crime. You do not need to be arrested or even charged with a crime, simply having cash (which we need to carry as poker players) can be cause for seizure.

I think you are right that you should not let police search your car, but if they do under any guise of 'probable cause' your cash can then be seized without charging you with a crime. In many states the police departments can keep the money.

It is also worth noting that certain agencies have recently admitted to training police dogs to detect and alert for U.S. currency, giving them probable cause to search and seize cash for no other reason but carrying it.

So this is why I am wondering if this is concerning to the poker community, and if anyone has been worried/ changing their behaviors accordingly.

I have worried a bit when driving and flying. I would keep cash on my person rather than in my vehicle.

I left Las Vegas for L.A. after a huge roll. But I had to make a stop in Del Rio, Texas first. I flew to San Antonio and drove to Del Rio. To get back to L.A. the most effective way was by Amtrak train.

You can't imagine the stress of my 1) driving halfway across Texas and then 2) riding on Amtrak, all while carrying a wad of cash.

March/April of 2001 I drove from the Midwest out to Vegas (stopping in various places along the way). I had ~$15,000 in cash in this oversized nylon/velcro belt (it was a diving weight belt you could put weights into, instead i put cash into the pockets where the weights would go). It was far too big for me, so I wore it as a bandolier strapped accross my chest diagonally. I wore it on my person under my shirt the whole car ride out.

I stayed in Vegas for a few months and played lots of poker.

In August I had to drive home. Unfortunately I was driving a POS 4 cylinder Mazda Miata. Nice to drive a convertible, but the engine was so weak that if you turned on the air conditioning, the top speed of the car was about 60 mph. So leaving during the day I couldn't have the top down because it was 120 degrees out with a brutal sun, I left the top up. I had a choice,of driving with the top down in the car and doing 80 mph on the highway or keeping the top up with air and doing 60.

Wanting to get home in a reasonable time I kept the top down and did 80. This meant, I boiled under the sun. I put a hat on to protect myself from the sun, but had to take off my shirt and bandolier because I was hot as Hades.

I put the bandolier in a gym bag I had on the front seat and my shirt on top of the bag.

On I-15, north of Mesquite, just before the Arizona border a Nevada State cop pulls me over. He says I am doing 80 in a 70 zone (likely true). He also says I didn't use my turn signal earlier when I switched lanes (false, I hadn't switched lanes for over 20 minutes).

After some back and forth discussing my driving, I am like whatever. Give me a ticket and I will pay it. I just want to be on my way.

Then he asks if he can search my car.

I tank for a long time. I don't know how to handle this so I am thinking. If I say no it makes us adversaries and he can give me a hard time and can easily find a flimsy excuse to search it anyway. If I say yes, he will most certainly find ~$33,000 in the belt in my bag.

I have literally nothing to hide, no guns, no drugs, nothing. But I do have $33,000 in cash that I really do not want to lose. It isn't on my person, it is in the gym bag on the front seat. Damn heat.

It was obvious from looking at the cop that I took to long tanking and he was suspicious. So I asked him why he wanted to search my car? He gave me some BS about me not caring if I was innocent. I started to argue against that, but I could immediately tell it wasn't working. So I switched gears and threw a Hail Mary. Just looking at him I think that was my best bet.

I told him that I wasn't YET giving him permission to search my car but I wanted to discuss it with him. I was basically honest with him. I told him that I wasn't worried because I could guarantee that there were no drugs or weapons in my car, I told him that there was a large amount of cash in the bag. I told him I had spent some time in Vegas gambling and that was the the result. I also told him that I know he could confiscate the cash on the flimsiest excuse., but that would infuriate me because I had done nothing wrong and I would do everything I could to fight it including dragging his name and reputation through the mud if that is what it took.

I got his name and badge number and I basically told him that he could search my car if and only if he acknowledged that I told him about the money before hand and he recognized my reason for possessing it. Otherwise he could NOT search my car and any reason he fabricated would be vigorously fought in court.

I think I threw him off balance. I really do. It is probably rare to have someone say that.

He started to search my car, but almost immediately he realized it was fruitless. For one, the car was too small. For two, no person would grant permission if there was something more to hide. When he started to search it he quickly gave up (it literally took less than a minute, there is a really small trunk and the cabin area).

He tried to regain the upper hand by questioning me some more about the money, but my answers were consistent. I had done a lot of gambling in Vegas. My players card would back all of that up.

After a few minutes he gave up and let me go without even a warning for speeding.

I believe three things worked in my favor:
1. I was still in Nevada. I think making the argument that the money was from gambling works better around Las Vegas. If I was in Nebraska, I am not sure it would have worked.
2. I was driving what looked like a nice car (even though it wasn't). It wouldn't be unreasonable back then for someone driving a Miata to have cash on them.
3. I was a white middle aged male. If I was black or Hispanic, it easily could have gone differently.

It sucks that police can stop a citizen and confiscate large amounts of cash from them despite the fact that they have done nothing wrong and are not being charged with anything. Sure, the person can get it back, but that involves jumping through hoops and spending lots of money to do so. Not fair.

TBH I would be scared to carry this much cash. Both because cops and also criminals. Better keep it in the bank.

FR. Any time I have a substantial amount of cash, I’m more worried the cops are going to steal it than criminals.

When you cash out >$10k, there is a currency transaction report that must be provided for the government and you are entitled to copy as well. There is also a W2-G tax form if you win a large amount from casino promotion or poker tournament.

So if you are leaving the casino with a large amount of money, you can get the documentation to verify its origin and legitimacy.

I once crossed the border with a 5 figure cash sum. They were curious and suspicious. However, I had a phone full of chipstacks pictures as well as my session log. These things definitely came in handy.