ATM's - Expensive or illogical deduction?

I often see people say they do not like to use ATMs for extra cash in Vegas because they are so expensive. I would agree that nobody wants to pay $5-$6 to get their money out. But...

Walk through this scenario. You have been working the casino all day and blew through your original $1,000 or $2,000. It is gone. You have spent it playing. Now, you want to play some more. So, you go to the ATM and get another $1,000. In any event, you then go play that and loose it all.

So, how much is that $5 charge in the big picture here?

ATMs are easy to find. No going to cage, or dealing with cashing Travelers Cheques, etc. etc.


(this assumes you take some money with you in the first place and are not one of those that has the illogical thought process that carrying cash will result in a mugging)

 

I agree with your logic but for some people cheapness outweighs logic.

 

Personally,the fees I have encountered have been in the range of 2.50-4.00.Yes they can get expensive,but you are paying for the convenience of easy access to your money.For a small fee,you don't have to worry about carrying a ton of money around with you.

 

The expense is a convenience charge, and relatively minor compared to what you give away in gambling edge. Although it should be noted that those charges can get a lot higher for foreign visitors who pay a fee and get a bad rate on foreign exchange ... if they can use the atm at all.

But to me, a much bigger problem with using ATMs is the impact on budgeting. The whole point of bringing what I need in cash (or wiring or a marker if I rolled high enough to use those approaches) is setting a limit that I have predetermined outside the heat of the moment of the most I would be willing to risk. Going to the ATM defeats the whole purpose of that.

 

When the withdrawal amount is lower than the hypothetical, the fee is not reasonable, especially when there will be an additional fee for your bank on top. It's a bit arrogant to call wanting to avoid those fees being cheap when you haven't walked a mile in their shoes.

However, a larger part of my reluctance has to do with security. There was a rash of horror stories regarding one of the casino ATM providers a few years back. People were making withdrawals and not getting all their cash even though all the money was deducted from their accounts. When I googled the company their were a lot a regulatory and security issues which kind of backed up the complaints. I know CET dropped them but it makes me wary about ATM safety in Vegas. For me, I would rather plan my trip around not using them.

 

There was a rumor on this board a while back about an ATM that didn't charge a fee (your bank still might) that was hidden off in the high limit slot room at Flamingo, I think. I went in search of it a few trips back and did not find it. Perhaps it was a myth...

 

Apparently some of the diamond lounges have free ATMs but you have to have a Diamond card to get to it. The ATM at Casino Royale used to be only $2 or something but I don't know I'd that's changed.

 

I use the ATM some of the time, because as a solo female I don't like carrying my entire bankroll with me and I haven't bothered with any of the LOC or front money things the high rollers use. It annoyed me to pay the $4-6 fees even though my bank reimburses $10 a month. But, since I had a decent win last year and had to write off losses, it actually was very helpful for cross-referencing with Win/Loss statements to show losses. I plan to utilize the ATM more this year in hopes of having the same issue next year!!

 

I am one of those people who don't like carrying cash. It isn't because I think I am more likely to get mugged. It's because if I do get mugged, I'd rather not have my entire bankroll on me. Then my trip is - over, and I have to sit in my room pouting for 5 days - or go home early. I don't happen to have a spare bankroll sitting around - more power to all of you that do

So I consider trips to the ATM as regularly scheduled parts of my trip to complete my bankroll.

 

What they said.

And to add, the "fee" is a small deterrent to make sure I pull out exactly what I need and nothing more (or less).

I am also a solo female in Vegas most times and I would also like to protect myself against being robbed. I do this in multiple ways, and one of those ways is utilizing the atm. There are far more ways to get robbed than just a mugging. I can get robbed sitting at a high limit slot by accident. lol But seriously I respect other people's decisions NOT to use an atm, but it definitely serves its purpose for me. Contrary to other beliefs, the atm *helps* me budget.

And the atm at Casino Royale is still about a $1, last I checked.

 

I admit - I am goofy: I think of nothing of throwing a few white chips on a long shot at a craps table on a hunch, but hate seeing the ATM service charge. Travelers checks are dinosaurs. Going to the cage is a pain. I simply get a line of credit. I make sure I have a few hundreds in my wallet to get started and then just get markers at the table. Worst case scenario - an interest free loan for a couple of weeks.

 

I always use ATM's, but I always withdrawl the max which is $500, if I need to withdrawl money. I am not really worried about the fees which are marginal when you withdrawl $500. Now if I was just going to take out $20 then it would suck balls to pay the fee.

 

Not sure it is still there, but the ATM in Harrahs High Limit slot room was free.

Getting mugged is really RARE, but not carrying 5 days bankroll will help with that. Room safe can help there.

If going to an ATM defeats your self imposed budget, that makes good sense too, then using a ATM is bad news.

 

Diamond Lounge at Flamingo used to also allow POS debit with no fees, which is huge. used this many times.

 

Am I the only one who has a bank account that doesn't charge for any ATM transactions? I have a Capital One checking account and I forget the exact amount but they refund up to like $20 a month in ATM fees. Its really nice cause I can grab cash wherever I'm at and don't have to worry about stupid fees.

 

I have driven around looking for a Bank of America bank machine to save the hotel atm charges. It was too much of a hassle. I/We only really need to hit the bank machine once or twice a trip anyway. It's not like we hit the hotel atm several times a day, all week long, all year long. I stopped looking at the screen that says it's going to cost $x, is that OK? I just hit OK and move on. And I'm a well known cheapskate.

 

For me, with BoA account, if I don't use their machines, then I get hit with double charges. One from each bank which is crazy! Hubbie googled BoA's ATM locations once and found one in the Forums and one by the M&M store. I wouldn't have walked all over but he was on a chip collecting walk anyway so it was fine.

Having that double charge has saved me many a drunken trip or two from getting money out and just going to bed, lol.

 

pickpocketing? leaving money at the table? dropping money? people have gotten their stuff robbed while they were asleep in their room from the quad to the cosmo. Lots of things are rare but no one is invincible. Safes are good, credit lines too. But using a safe, you still have to carry your money out...eventually.

 

I do see a lot of ATM bashing here and on other boards. We use it every trip. I do believe it depends on what kind of trip you take. We tend to go for 6-7 days. We divide our cash budget into 4...1/4 DH wallet when we leave, 1/4 my wallet when we leave the house. The remainder is taken out of the ATM over 4 days. In the past we have paid $5 per transaction and so the total cost for us is $20. The way we look at it, we could lose or have stolen our wallet, someone could break into our room...anything can happen. We do not want to have a disaster and have days to go with no cash.

If I was alone, going for 3 days...I wouldn't bother and just take all cash with me. The only travelers checks around here would cost us more than $20 and I find them a pain to cash. We casino hop and so credit lines/markers are of no use to us. We are also NOT high rollers. I have read reports here of people spending in one day what we spend for a week. We just don't want to be left stranded if a bad situation happens.

 

On a lighter note - or actually sad.

How many times have you seen someone go to the ATM and take out less than $100? Have seen many take out $20. I knew one guy that hit the ATM 6 times in one night, getting around $60 each time. That was his cash management system.

Sadly, all those ATM charges really add up with small withdrawals.