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Wynn July 5-8 - line of credit vs wiring money vs ???

Discussion in 'Misc. Vegas Chat' started by Junkyard Hog, Jun 7, 2012.

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  1. Junkyard Hog

    Junkyard Hog High-Roller

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    I will be staying at the Wynn from July 5-8. This may not be the best place to ask this question but I know some very knowledgeable guys post in this forum.

    I've always brought cash when traveling to Vegas. Usually around 3K. I'd like to step up my game this go round and have a budget set for around 10K. I really don't want to travel with that amount of cash and I'd like to hear pro's and con's of line of credit versus wiring money versus any other methods.

    I called the credit department at the Wynn and they said I could only use a line of credit for table games but I could use the wire money for sportsbetting and poker (which is what I will probably play the most of). When I got the instructions for the wire it said I could only use the money to gamble and could not draw cash out.

    Anyway, what advice do you guys have? Also, does it matter one way or another as far as comps are concerned?
     
  2. shifter

    shifter Degenerate Gambler

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    if you play sports and poker your only choice is to wire money. a CL won't do you any good since you can't use it for that.

    as far as them saying that you can only use the money to gamble and can't withdraw cash, they are just trying to prevent people from wasting their time wiring cash and then just withdrawing it and taking it somewhere else. as long as you gamble while you're there, you'll have no problems. you can always go to the cage and request some of your cash.

    if you have money left at the end of the day, just take the chips/cash to the cage and ask them to put it on your account. then it will be sitting there waiting for you the next day. at the end of your trip, just go to the cage and have them wire the remaining balance back to your account.
     
  3. agentq

    agentq Low-Roller

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    The Wynn cage people did get pretty upset when I asked how much I could withdraw from $ I had wired ahead of time. They said something like 10%, but did say I could apply it towards any excess charges on my room :drunk:
     
  4. Junkyard Hog

    Junkyard Hog High-Roller

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    Thanks. That's kinda what I thought. I just didn't know if there were any more options.
     
  5. LV_Bound

    LV_Bound VIP Whale

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    If you call each casino they have their own spin, but basically each will say in their own words that the money is only for gambling on their machines.

    At MGM they would give you cash and send you on your way.

    At NYNY they give you $500 tickets.

    These are the only two we have experience with. I can see where they can have more control at the tables but if playing the slots where most people move around its hard to track.

    Edited because I forgot to clarify that we do a line of credit and not wire money.
     
  6. JillyFromPhilly

    JillyFromPhilly Tourist

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    I have taken out markers in the past in the HL slot room at Wynn - they have a special little cage in there where they will let you take out markers for slot play - but they won't give you cash, they will give you a ticket to use in the machines in the amount of the marker you request.

    What they'll do when you're done playing depends on if you end your slot session up or down - if you're down, you can convert the remainder on the ticket to chips if you then want to take the rest of the money to play at the tables - if you're up, they will make you pay back your marker first but will give you the rest in cash.

    But in my experience at Wynn, they're pretty tight on letting you cash any chips if you have a marker out - although it's still possible to do if you were to say get a ticket at the HL slot window, play for a while, ask for the remainder on the ticket to be converted to chips & then send your wife [or someone else] to cash out some of the chips at the main cage [though stick with smaller amounts at a time or it might raise a red flag].
     
  7. Junkyard Hog

    Junkyard Hog High-Roller

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    Thanks for the advice guys.
     
  8. RC

    RC Low-Roller

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    I would lean towards a LOC along with bringing some cash with you so that you can keep the dollar amounts smaller for any wiring of $$$$. The reason I say this is that your name gets logged for wiring over a certain amount (I can't remember off the top of my head) which could lead to needless scrutiny from the Feds and/or the IRS. Even though I'm sure that you could prove that it was for gambling, I don't care for the "guilty until you can prove yourself innocent" approach that has been used on some people in the past of what they might describe as money laundering. I personally don't use wiring any more because of this and other reasons ...
     
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2012
  9. JillyFromPhilly

    JillyFromPhilly Tourist

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    I play on a LOC & have always had my winnings wired back if it's more than a few K and have never had a problem with the feds or IRS - just last month I wired $95K back from the Palazzo, no problem whatsoever.
     
  10. RC

    RC Low-Roller

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    That is a good thing and I wish that would always be the outcome, but it isn't. Also, I didn't say you will have a problem with them I said that you might have a run in at some point with them. Players who use wiring need to be aware that things are always being logged about these wires (and the criteria is not static) and at some point it could all blow up on you. I've worked for a bank on systems that interface with both incoming and outgoing wires and am pretty familiar with this topic. If you want to read more about it then part of it can be found by Googling "OFAC". OFAC is administered thru the US Treasury. There was also an article at one time in one of the LAS newspapers (I think it was the RJ) where the IRS was getting access (by arm twisting the casinos) to the wiring transactions list of players and then began looking at these people for being an audit candidate based on their wire activity and comparing it to their past returns to make assumptions about whether or not they thought that these people should legitimately have that amount of $$$$. Kind of sounds like an over zealous big brother approach doesn't it?

    Another example is the banks can be told by the Treasury to look for wires from/to specific individual or business names etc. If your name is the same or even sounds like a name that they are looking for then you could be in for problems. They can also all of a sudden change what they are looking for because money launderers (drug dealers etc.) have been busted in your zip code, city, county or whatever criteria that they want to scrutinize and if you happen to live and have wire activity there, then your money might be confiscated in the worst case or more than likely they would first "upgrade" their monitor to be your entire wire activity. If they do confiscate of course you will then have to prove it is legitimately yours ... which might end up with a big cost of time, hassle and legal fees.

    I'm a player myself and am just telling you what I know from first hand experience. I would hope that you would want to use the information to your benefit, but I also realize everyone has to do what they think is best for themselves. :peace:
     
  11. Dean Martin

    Dean Martin VIP Whale

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    RC makes some good points....more so since 9/11, "they" watch movements of cash in the banking system.

    We were in your same shoes and last year decided to wire in funds to Wynn. It was a PIA for us but part of that was me being ignorant of the process. The other part (IMO) was the Wynn HL cage personell being ignorant about educating new HL patrons.

    Tables players just take a marker against their cash for chips. We play mostly slots so being new at this, I asked for cash. They did not want to give me cash and said we were limited to 10% of what we wired in. I was like WTF?:rolleyes2:

    I finally figured out that they have no problem printing you a ticket (TITO) for $500 to go play slots but the HL cage didn't readily offer up that information...it took days (it seemed like) to get to that determination.

    I just do travelers checks for X amount and then bring $2-3K in cash.
     
  12. JillyFromPhilly

    JillyFromPhilly Tourist

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    You'd think that the government would be more concerned with people moving large amounts of cash than wiring money though, wouldn't you? I mean, who's more likely to be involved with money laundering & terrorism - someone who wires their money back & forth with full knowledge that there is a clear paper trail - or someone who is bringing in & taking out large sums of cash, and then doing who knows what with it?

    I've been audited in the past [as a business owner, your odds of being audited are much more likely to be audited than someone with a salaried position anyway] and - just like when I've had a large number of W-2's at the end of the year from slot hits over $1200 - I just sent my accountant copies of cancelled markers & checks and he uses them to offset any questionable gambling income or casino related transactions [because I usually play some high limit slots, I almost always have "gambling wins" to report on my taxes, even if I've lost for the year overall - and he always just uses cancelled checks & markers to bring the amount down to zero and I've never had a problem in 20 years - the IRS has always been more interested in combing through my income relating to my business than my gambling anyway]
     
  13. Junkyard Hog

    Junkyard Hog High-Roller

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    Thanks for your input. I didn't realize any of that.
     
  14. Junkyard Hog

    Junkyard Hog High-Roller

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    Travelers checks may be a good option. I guess you can just cash these at the cage?
     
  15. Travel Fanatic

    Travel Fanatic The Arbiter of Taste Caviar Kid

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    Haven't ever tried wiring front money to a casino, but have thought about it. Are there any wire or transfer fees?
     
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  16. Dean Martin

    Dean Martin VIP Whale

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    Jilly - I couldn't agree more, anybody moving money w/ such an obvious paper trail is not the guys they should be going after but I guess tracking it keeps it from making it easy for the "bad guys".

    Hog - yes, you can walk up to any cage (and it doesn't have to be the HL cage) and cash just about any amount of travelers checks you want. I've cashed up to $1k at a time.
     
  17. Junkyard Hog

    Junkyard Hog High-Roller

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    Thanks. This is the way I'm leaning now.
     
  18. luvstp

    luvstp High-Roller

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    My experience with our LOC at Wynn has been great. We mainly play slots and video poker and get tickets in the HL room.

    For what you want to do, I'd recommend you get a LOC and then head to the HL room when you get there. Ask for tickets in the amount of $1000 each and tell them you are playing slots. If you want to play sports bets or in the poker room, then take these tickets to the nearest slot machine--they will say purchase ticket on them. Put the ticket in the slot machine or vp machine, let it register the credits, cash it out and then take your new ticket (which now says cashout ticket) to a kiosk and get cash for your ticket.

    Nobody ever needs to know that you're using it in the poker room or for sports betting.
     
  19. RC

    RC Low-Roller

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    I've also had some issues with my LOC at a MGM casino that I didn't much care for. I set this up as a convenience when I play the tables or go to the sports book. I play some machines, but not very much so that wasn't really an issue for me. When I tried to get cash at the cage to go to the sports book they would not give it to me. They told me that the application I signed specifically says that it is not for use in the sports book or the poker room. I said to myself fine I would just cash in some of my chips after playing the tables and use that in the book and that has solved my main issue with the LOC. I've also learned to control what color chips they give me when I color up so that I get the denominations that I want. What I've learned since then is that you don't want to go overboard using too much of your LOC towards play in the poker room or sports book (which I guess they would measure by looking at table games play in my case) or the casino might warn you that you are not using your LOC in the way that it was designed for. I don't know what would happen at that point ...
     
  20. RC

    RC Low-Roller

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    The part I don't like is the FAC part of OFAC is defined to be Foreign Asset Control, but the Feds have seen and liked the way it does its checking that it has been implemented somewhat in the domestic mode for transfers within the US.
     
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