How Does Casino Markers Work
- How Does Casino Markers Work In
- How Does Casino Markers Work
- How Do Casino Markers Work
- How Casino Markers Work
- How Does Casino Markers Work Without
Casino tokens (also known as casino or gaming chips, checks, or cheques) are small discs used in lieu of currency in casinos.Colored metal, injection-molded plastic or compression molded clay tokens of various denominations are used primarily in table games, as opposed to metal token coins, used primarily in slot machines. A casino marker is a line of credit that gaming establishments lend to players to use for gambling at the property. Customers who fail to repay the marker may face civil action to collect the debt, as well as criminal charges for check fraud or passing bad checks. The casino’s try to convince people to not touch their money, and just sign a marker. The marker isn’t actual money, it results in the gambler having access to gaming chips in the dollar amount of the marker. The casino likes to point out that if you win, you just give back the amount you borrowed and keep the profit. Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is used as a tumor marker. An elevated or rising CEA level indicates cancer progression or recurrence. Read on to learn about the meaning of different CEA blood ranges, the CEA test, and how to know what a healthy blood test range is for CEA.
Casino markers are very common in Las Vegas. Simply by filling out a form at the casino, you get instant access to a large amount money to use in the casino. It’s a very tempting proposition. Be very careful: you can land in a lot of trouble if you don’t know how casino markers work.
Casino markers are serious business in Las Vegas. If you fail to repay a casino marker within the required time — usually thirty (30) days — and ignore inquiries about repayment, you may face criminal charges in Las Vegas, as well as a civil lawsuit by the casino to recover the money owed. The criminal charge can result in a significant fine, imprisonment, and even extradition to Nevada. You can end up with a permanent felony conviction on your record that substantially interferes with your life and makes it difficult to get a job and credit.
Casino Marker Laws in Nevada
Las Vegas visitors tend to think that casino markers are like a credit card or line of credit, because that’s how casinos treat them. That assumption is totally erroneous and full of risk for an unwary casino patron. Nevada law treats a casino marker like a personal check. Unpaid markers can be prosecuted under the state’s bad check laws. The law assumes that you intended to defraud the casino if you do not pay the marker on time.
When your payment date passes, the casino will try to collect the money from your bank. If you don’t have sufficient funds to cover the payment you owe, the casino will contact you. If you ignore the casino’s communications, they will file a formal complaint. Then you will hear from the District Attorney’s Office. If you ignore them, you will face felony charges, and a warrant for your arrest will be issued. You run the risk of being extradited to Nevada, especially if you attempt to travel internationally.
A single charge for an unpaid casino marker carries the possibility of a year in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Depending on the circumstances, other felony charges may be filed at the same time.
What To Do If You Have an Unpaid Casino Marker
Casinos and criminal prosecutors in Las Vegas have a quick, tried-and-true process for following up on unpaid markers. Don’t even entertain the thought that they won’t catch up with you — they will. If you know you won’t be able to pay a casino marker, contact an attorney at the earliest possible time. Experienced Las Vegas casino marker attorney Joseph Gersten is just a phone call or email away, so there’s no excuse to wait. If you delay getting legal counsel, your situation will keep getting worse and more difficult to resolve.
In Las Vegas, the process for prosecuting unpaid markers is fast and simple. The ramifications for you and your life are anything but that.
Need Help? Contact an Experienced Las Vegas Casino Marker Attorney
Las Vegas criminal defense attorney Joseph Gersten has extensive experience with casino markers. If you are or anticipate having problems paying a Las Vegas casino marker, contact Attorney Gersten to schedule a free consultation.
I'm opening $6000 lines of credit at each of the two hotel/casinos at which I will be staying during my trip. I plan to get a marker for $2000 the first time I sit at a table, and immediately play with about $500. Win or lose, I intend to go to the cage and exchange about $1000 in chips for cash that I can use for miscellaneous expenses and gambling at other casinos. This is ok, right?
I'm particularly interested in the following sentence from one of my credit approval letters: 'Please keep in mind that casino credit is not available for use in the Poker Room or the Race and Sports Book.' I'm guessing that this just means that marker signing does not go on in these locations. I hope its ok for me to get chips in the casino using a marker, and take these chips to the poker room.
BTW, what prompted you to get away from taking cash? Cash is easy, efficient, and eliminates the need for unnecessary contact with people you don't really need knowing your stuff. All you end up doing is making more work for yourself and creating more opportunities for multiple cashiers to make you feel uncomfortable until you hand over some tips.
You can turn those chips into cash, or use those chips anywhere on a table game, in the sense that once you got the casino chips, you can use them anywhere in the casino. So, you can go back to the cage ('cashier') and turn them back into cash - to use them in to race or sports book, or poker room - which you can, after conversion.
Casino money is good anywhere in that casino, or convertable in cash via the cage, - to use anywhere in the casino AS YOU SEE FIT - so as long as you will pay it back.
If you even wanted to be slick, you can use that advance as a 0% interest rate short term loan, if you were to practice bad faith about about casino patronage - and which the house would catch on to.
My position is that at this day and age - with ATMs and Bank Credit lines all over the place - that Markers are a bit of an old-school gimmick to patronize customers that work as a hook, so don't abuse it.
That is to say, don't use it as a short term loan. Aside from that, gamble with it ANYWHERE in the same casino, even if you converted it back into cash to use at the same casino's sports book or poker room.
As a dealer in the casino in the LV area, the small $500 to $1,000 markers that were occasionally used by pretentious middle-class players who pretended that that were wealthy old-school high-rollers - when they were either middle-class workers at most, or were broke but still had a good but fading credit rating, went to either no table action or into default arears, particularly in these new days of the ATM machine where they check your actual bank account balance.
To this I also often wondered, 'who were they trying to impress?' The Asian immigrant dealers who couldn't care less about these 'Amelican show-off plicks' snapping their hands for service like wanna-be high-rollers after getting a $500 marker - and showing up at tables demanding 'service', or the drunk tourists that they sat next to??!!
If a man with a $2,000 a month mortgage cannot pull out even $500 from an ATM machine to play his Blackjack, then why would a casino even consider giving him a $500 marker?
And if a man is truly rich enough in terms of world-class amounts - then WHY does he have to BORROW it in order to gamble??
When you consider that the $500 or $1000 cash advance via a casino marker is actually less than a typical house rental or mortgage fee, are we stating that this amount is more convienient 'as borrowed' than an ATM withdrawl IF HE ACTUALLY HAD that needed money??
If you don't has the discretionary cash at hand to gamble, to the point where you actually need CASH LOANS from A CASINO to GAMBLE in the days of ATM machines and global banking, then something is serious wrong with both your gambling habits and with the casino loaning to you.
My position is this:
1. If you are financially comfortable enough to gamble, then you certainly don't need to BORROW from a casino to do so; and
How Does Casino Markers Work In
2. If you are NOT comfortable enough to gamble, then you also certainly don't need to BORROW from a casino, in order NOT to do so. That's different.
Jerry, I'm just not comfortable travelling with $10k or more in cash. I've brought out $6k on previous trips. Even that was a bit awkward, as my bank frequently didn't have enough hundreds for the withdrawal and had to load me up with smaller denomination bills.
Dan, I wasn't thrilled about the prospect of the credit line and paperwork that go along with it. I tried to find another way. My first notion was to wire some money from my bank account to the cage. It took quite an effort to find anyone at the casino who knew anything about this, then I finally found someone who faxed me three pages of instructions (small type) on how to go about it. More trouble than I was willing to pursue. It just seems like the casinos are more readily set up to handle credit. ATMs and debit cards have limits on the amount I can access, plus there are fees that go along with every transaction.
It appeared to me that casino credit is just the best way to get largish amounts of money to Vegas. If I'm not a winner when all is said and done (ha!) I'll just write a check for the deficit when I leave. I'm certainly not trying to impress anybody (although I've heard that credit is a good way to get the attention of a casino host). If anyone has a better idea about how to get funds to Vegas, I'm interested (for next trip).
I have to go through airport security, and $3000 in cash is a wad, no matter how well you try to hide it. Then I get to Vegas, and have to hope my cab ride does not have any issues. I also have to make sure my bankroll does not get lost. Of course, patting my pocket a dozen times just points to where my money is. Finally, on the morbid side, if something were to happen to the plane going out, or coming home, $3000 does not end up in my children's inheritance.
ATMs with their high casino fees are a cash cow for the ATM holders. They are not a viable option for getting cash for all but serious emergencies.
I think you all are missing another aspect of casino credit.
I have to go through airport security, and $3000 in cash is a wad, no matter how well you try to hide it. Then I get to Vegas, and have to hope my cab ride does not have any issues. I also have to make sure my bankroll does not get lost. Of course, patting my pocket a dozen times just points to where my money is. Finally, on the morbid side, if something were to happen to the plane going out, or coming home, $3000 does not end up in my children's inheritance.
ATMs with their high casino fees are a cash cow for the ATM holders. They are not a viable option for getting cash for all but serious emergencies.
How Does Casino Markers Work
I agree that Casino Credit is more of a way to get money from your bank account with no fees or hassle, rather than being a lending institution as we commonly think of one.
I do something fairly simple. I get a cashier's check from my bank for the amount of my bankroll (the check is free). I also contact the cage via a host. They want a copy of the cashier's check a few days early (I fax it out). They can then call the bank and verify it. Once I get to the casino, I deposit it at the cage. I use small markers ($500) to withdraw my money to use as I see fit. If I win a lot, I put that on deposit after covering the existing markers. At the end of my trip, I clear all the remaining markers and get a check for the remaining amount. Very easy and very convenient.
I don't like carrying large amounts of money while traveling and the ATM fees are horrid. This method helps me out.
If anyone has a better idea about how to get funds to Vegas, I'm interested (for next trip).
Wells Fargo, Bank of America and other national banks have branches in the Las Vegas Valley. It is not the most convenient way to do it, (especially if you come in on a Sunday, or after hours) but you avoid traveling through the airport with large wads of cash. It also means it is possible, (but again, not convenient)to make a deposit before you leave, saving you the stress of toting the bundle of Benjamins back home.
Markers are great as long as you stay within your means. It is a convenient way to track your losses for IRS purposes too. Think of it as an extension of your checking account, because that is exactly what it is. If you don't pay it back, BAM, the casino presents the marker as a draft against your bank account.
That's a good point. It's just that - as a dealer - I has seen a lot of horrible marker disasters, especially when used as a 'high-roller' pretense, but a million 'no problem' banking transfers, including many with banks, real estate offices in Las Vegas, and with Western Union. When I moved to Las Vegas, I had my NY City bank (Chase) wire $80,000 to buy a condo over the phone to my broker's office, with a verbal interview to establish who I am.
So you can:
1. Wire from bank to bank branch, to the city your going to, if your bank has branches in both your hometown and LV.
How Do Casino Markers Work
2. Now.....If it is difficult for a Casino's own Cage to handle fancy bank transfers, then this has GOT to tell you how very rare this action is - or the casino your dealing with is a dive, and NOT the Venetian!3. But....the Venetian or the Wynn or the Bellagio has GOT to be experienced in this money transfer area. If I may ask - what Casino had a problem with a bank transfer??
3. AMEX traveler's checks ( or 'cheques', as they refer to them ) - cashed at any nation Bank or Western Union office.
4. Contact Western Union about your situation, especially if you have both a valid driver's license and a passport.
5. The biggest table buy-in I ever did was about $2,000. I cannot see buying into a table for more than $10,000, unless your an International Billionaire who co-starred in an Austin Powers movie and you're staying at Caesars Palace or the Wynn with Dr. Evil. C'mon now, Illegal Mexican Immigrans transfer $2 Billion a year out of the country from Tobacco shops in our country's inner city slums, and we can't get you to transfer about $10K in cash within the country for a good bit of table action in Las Vegas as a fellow American?
6. Card counters used to strap $30,000 in cash on their bodies with duck tape going between Las Vegas and Boston. Now, with the body scanners, that would be spotted. But you could buy about $10,000 in cashable postal or Western Union Money orders at $500 each, and that would fit into your wallet - numbering 20 in count. No casino cage, Hotel, or Money office would have a problem with Bona fide Money orders and passport/driver's id.
