bringing Dollars into the states ?

nicnicnic

I thinking of buying a chunk of dollars next week as I think the rate is peaking. Basically want to know is there any restrictions on the amount of cash that you can bring into the US.

Ruu_Old

Anything exceeding $10,000 (no idea how much ye poker chaps use) has to be declared.:)

ditpoker

nicnicnic wrote:

i just won loadsa money me!!

think there's a limit before it must be declared...
EDIT: apparantly the limit is 10k.

ocallagh

This is a tricky one. While there is nothing to stop you walking into USA with 10 billion in cash, you must declare if it is over 10k and they will ask questions. If you don't declare and you get caught they will confiscate it.

The reason you might not want to declare it is you are going on a holiday VISA to the states for up to 3 months. I don't think this type of VISA covers you as a professional poker player.I could be wrong here, but whenever I was going to vegas I was always told to say I was just gonna play a bit of blackjack. So, if you can come up with a good excuse for $20k then fine... otherwise if there are people travelling with you then disperse all your money so you have $9900 each.

Alternatively, purchase the option for say $20k on monday through a dealer in your bank. $20k should get you a good rate. The rate they give you will be good for a few hours. Then ring Bellagio and ask them to setup an account for you and tell them you won't be over for 2 months but would like to transfer now. I doubt they'll mind. They'll give you their IBAN and you just put your name down as a reference. You can wire the cash over in dollar using the rate the dealer gave you. When filling out the foreign transfer document you'll need to tell the cashier to use the rate from the dealer or else they will screw you with their default rates. Then in 2 months you just need to turn up at the bellagio cash desk with your passport. Defo ring the bellagio to make sure the 2 months won't be a problem tho... the US might have laws against it.

BIG-SLICK-POKER

Ive seen this on Miami Vice and it works nicky i am on for it if u are ok im drivin and O callagh can go on the banana boat behind just to make it look ok;)

nicnicnic

ocallagh wrote:

This is a tricky one. While there is nothing to stop you walking into USA with 10 billion in cash, you must declare if it is over 10k and they will ask questions. If you don't declare and you get caught they will confiscate it.

The reason you might not want to declare it is you are going on a holiday VISA to the states for up to 3 months. I don't think this type of VISA covers you as a professional poker player.I could be wrong here, but whenever I was going to vegas I was always told to say I was just gonna play a bit of blackjack. So, if you can come up with a good excuse for $20k then fine... otherwise if there are people travelling with you then disperse all your money so you have $9900 each.

Alternatively, purchase the option for say $20k on monday through a dealer in your bank. $20k should get you a good rate. The rate they give you will be good for a few hours. Then ring Bellagio and ask them to setup an account for you and tell them you won't be over for 2 months but would like to transfer now. I doubt they'll mind. They'll give you their IBAN and you just put your name down as a reference. You can wire the cash over in dollar using the rate the dealer gave you. When filling out the foreign transfer document you'll need to tell the cashier to use the rate from the dealer or else they will screw you with their default rates. Then in 2 months you just need to turn up at the bellagio cash desk with your passport. Defo ring the bellagio to make sure the 2 months won't be a problem tho... the US might have laws against it.

cheers Niall I think option one is less complicated for me anyway. Whats the storey with Lazar cards, daily withdrawals limits widely accepted ?

ocallagh

nicnicnic wrote:

cheers Niall I think option one is less complicated for me anyway. Whats the storey with Lazar cards, daily withdrawals limits widely accepted ?

yeah same limits as you have at home

bottom feeder

Nicky just cheek it man, always works....:p

BANZAI_RUNNER

Try this , just bring a few thousand with you , and while you are there get someone/family member to do a western union transfer of the remainder of your money to you.

5pin5

i was over for the wsop and told coustems i had 20k on me they asked me for what and i said i was going to play cards ok go ahead no problem

nicnicnic

5pin5 wrote:

i was over for the wsop and told coustems i had 20k on me they asked me for what and i said i was going to play cards ok go ahead no problem

I'm a lot dodgier looking then you

Ollieboy

I'm nearly sure its 10k Nicky, I took over that amount last year and it was a real pain carrying that amount of cash. Would go with Niall's idea or dump the money onto your credit card and take it out that way.

As for the $ rate, I think it has a lot further to go before it gets better, they reckon it could go as low as 1.45 this summer or before the years out. All the Arabs have move there reserves into Euro and the price of oil is now mainly bought and sold in Euro, so I think the $ is F****, until have the next elections anyway.( in the states)

You only have to declare anything over 10k, its not a problem to bring more or take more out of the country. I know one player walk out with 350k and declared it and not a problem

nicnicnic

thanks for taking the time to reply gents Ollie if I only get 1/1 in june I'm blaming you;)

Ollieboy

nicnicnic wrote:

thanks for taking the time to reply gents Ollie if I only get 1/1 in june I'm blaming you;)

yeh, noooo

RoundTower

Different related question.

Valor had a thread a while back about getting money from an online bankroll to Vegas and someone recommended wiring it directly to the Bellagio as a cashout.

Green Joker have just confirmed to me I can't wire money to a US bank account.
Stars customers in the US have enough trouble cashing cheques so pretty sure a wire from them is out.
Neteller do not serve the USA.

I won't be coming home between now and Vegas and I don't have online banking. How can I get my money from online (ideally from GJP or Neteller) to real cash money in Vegas?

White Knight

Not sure if viable, can you transfer from GJP to Neteller to Pokerstars and change address to an American address to receive a cheque?

Lafortezza

RoundTower wrote:

I won't be coming home between now and Vegas and I don't have online banking. How can I get my money from online (ideally from GJP or Neteller) to real cash money in Vegas?

A short trip to Canada?

RoundTower

hmm maybe, though if I could cash a cheque in Canada or get a bank wire there (Western Union take an enormous fee so not them if I can avoid it) then maybe some other country on my way.

carrigeen

just be careful of nialls suggestion , I organised this last year through the MGM but when I looked into it they would accept the transfer but you could only use it in that casino (ie you sign out the money in chips but when your finished its signed back into your deposit account in the casino .

RoundTower

Bellagio chips are practically like dollar bills though, they are negotiable anywhere. So you can sign out $20k, pocket $15k, play for a while, deposit the $5k back saying you lost the rest, and cash the other $15k more or less anywhere else in Vegas. Right?

phantom_lord

RoundTower wrote:

Bellagio chips are practically like dollar bills though, they are negotiable anywhere. So you can sign out $20k, pocket $15k, play for a while, deposit the $5k back saying you lost the rest, and cash the other $15k more or less anywhere else in Vegas. Right?

not anymore, check out the 2+2 magazine article where a casino refused to cash a 5k chip, and confiscated it instead.

edit: link


http://www.twoplustwo.com/magazine/current/Dalla0407.html

RoundTower

yes I saw that story, but that was an MGM chip and in this case I would be getting a receipt for the chip anyway.

ZZR1100

Does the neteller ATM card work in the states or does it cause your neteller account to be locked ??

carfax

5pin5 wrote:

i was over for the wsop and told coustems i had 20k on me they asked me for what and i said i was going to play cards ok go ahead no problem

Dido for me, put had less than 10k on me......Literally just say you are going over to play poker.......They are used to getting lots of pros going to Vegas and will be well used to it around July this year.

Drakar

Just bring over $5 and turn it into $20,000 with the help of some foolishly drunk American poker players.

Jesus Wept

carfax wrote:

Dido for me, put had less than 10k on me......Literally just say you are going over to play poker.......They are used to getting lots of pros going to Vegas and will be well used to it around July this year.

They are hit and miss, Roy Brindley told them he was 'a professional poker player' and they said, ok, well you need a working visa in that case, and sent him home.

carrigeen

The-Rigger wrote:

They are hit and miss, Roy Brindley told them he was 'a professional poker player' and they said, ok, well you need a working visa in that case, and sent him home.

yeah be careful if you go this route not convinced they'll say fine in all cases, travelled with some one two years ago who had exactly 10k on him and he declared it, called over by customs and told in no uncertain terms if they found any more they would be confiscating the remainder.

carfax

The-Rigger wrote:

They are hit and miss, Roy Brindley told them he was 'a professional poker player' and they said, ok, well you need a working visa in that case, and sent him home.

Thats not what happened mate.....I'm not going to post the story here (its Roy's own business) but yeah he had trouble last year.......

Ollieboy

The-Rigger wrote:

They are hit and miss, Roy Brindley told them he was 'a professional poker player' and they said, ok, well you need a working visa in that case, and sent him home.

yeh different story all together. Not worse or anything, just different

The Clamper

2 methods

a, calculate what you need to spend each day and multiply that by the number of days you are going for
if it comes to less than 10k then no probs
if its more than 10k, ring the embassy and explain what you are doing
they will give you a letter to produce at the checkpoint

2,
bring less than 10k and have the rest on a credit card
nb. be careful with this option as any cash balances on your credit card are not covered by insurance in the normal way
its your risk, so be ultimate careful with this one


you could of course just go there with other people and get them to carry your cash, that is if you can trust them

valor

Getting a bank transfer from a poker site doesnt look feasible any more because I contacted a few and they all said they cant do that type of banking transaction to an American casino, so I dunno wtf im going to do now.

RoundTower

I think Roy wrote up his experiences in some article or something? If not obviously we shouldn't discuss it here. I think I know who you are thinking of though, the lesson seems to be just keep your story straight about what you do and what you will be doing in the states.