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The smart way to deal with your casino winnings

• How To Leave Casino With Money Game

By Bill Burton

Many players feel that when they’re up, they’re playing with the “casino’s money.” They tend to look at the money they won differently than the money they brought with them.

Although many gamblers assume losing is part of playing, it doesn't have to be that way; check out our tips on how to leave a casino a winner. Aug 08, 2012 If you leave the casino, you lose all rights to your credits, the casino is not responsibe for your money, you are. How many people would take the credits to the cashier and say someone forgot to cash out, not many, maybe if they won ten grand maybe, don’t expect the casino or the person that found your credits to be resonsble for your acts.

I can’t count the number of people who have told me they “never win” at the casinos. To this, I always ask if they were ahead at any point during their visit. Many times, the person will admit that they were ahead at some point—but they wound up giving it all back.

It’s easy to walk away when all of your money is gone. It’s a lot harder to quit while you’re ahead. I’m not saying that if you do win that you should immediately go home. If you’re ahead, lock up your buy-in and a small profit. Play with the excess, and when that’s gone, get up and take a break. Walk around, see a show or get something to eat.

Few things in life feel better than winning at a casino. Players should learn to savor these wins. By taking a break from the games while you’re ahead, you can enjoy that winning feeling while you engage in other activities at the casino. You can always go back and keep playing the games later.

On the flip side, nothing feels worse than going home broke, knowing that you could have walked away a winner, but instead you gave back all of the money. Many players feel that when they’re up, they’re playing with the “casino’s money.” They tend to look at the money they won differently than the money they brought with them. In reality, however, once you win, it becomes YOUR money.

It’s not that most people never win when they visit the casino. It’s that they never leave with their winnings. The problem with many players is that they have unrealistic expectations when they sit down to play a game. They want to turn ten dollars into a thousand dollars, or a hundred dollars into ten thousand. That would be a 1,000% return on your starting bankroll, and it’s very unlikely to happen.

Over the course of your playing sessions, you will probably have many small wins, a few medium wins, and maybe an occasional big win (or possibly even a life-changing win). Here are some suggestions for handling jackpots of various sizes.

Small Wins

A small win would be five times your starting bankroll or less. For example, if you started playing with $20 and you won $100, that would be five times your starting bankroll. The best way to ensure that you go home a winner is to lock up your initial starting money along with a small profit. I suggest about ten percent of your win. You can then play with the remainder of your winnings. If you continue to win, add a percentage to your profits and keep playing. Remember, over time you will have many small wins, and saving a little each time will create a larger win at the end of the day.

Medium Wins

A medium win would be 5-10 times your starting bankroll. If you start with $100 and win a $1,000 jackpot, that would be ten times your starting bankroll. With a medium sized jackpot I like using the one-third rule, which means I’ll continue playing with a third of the money, and put one third into my gambling account to use during my future casino visits. I’ll spend the remainder of the money on something special that isn’t gambling-related. This might be a nice dinner at a gourmet restaurant, or some new electronic gadget I’ve had my eye on.

When you purchase a special item with your winnings, you have something tangible to show for it. Every time you use that item you will be reminded of your win, and have a good feeling about it.

Large Wins

A large win is any jackpot that is more than ten times your starting bankroll, or a jackpot of more than $1,200 which requires the casino to give you a W-2G slip and report your winnings to the IRS. When you receive a W-2G, you will have to pay taxes on your winnings when you file your tax return.

If you hit a large jackpot I suggest using the “quarter rule.” This means you immediately set aside 25 percent to cover the taxes, so you won’t get caught short come tax time. I would then put 25 percent into my gambling account to use for future visits. I also spend a quarter of the money on a special item. As the remaining 25% of your winnings, you can use it for gambling—however, if it’s a very large amount, you should probably use less. (If you hit a $10,000 jackpot, I don’t suggest gambling away $2,500 that day.)

Life Changing Wins

Any jackpot over $100,000 is a life changing amount for most of us. One of the most sensible solutions for dealing with a big financial windfall is simple yet practical: put two thirds of the money you win into a bank CD or some other investment that you can’t touch for a full year.

The reason for this is that it will give you time to think about the money, and formulate a plan for your financial future. As for the third of your winnings that you didn’t lock away, you can enjoy that money now.

Don’t Get Greedy

Regardless of the size of the jackpot you hit, you’re only a winner if you actually leave the casino with more money than you started with. Hitting a jackpot, and then letting the casino win it all back from you, makes you a loser.

Greed is the #1 downfall of players who win a chunk of money. You have to remember that anything you win is your money—not the casino’s—and you should be prudent as to how you spend it.

Until next time, remember: luck comes and goes, but knowledge stays forever.

How To Leave Casino With Money Game

Bill Burton is the author of “1000 Best Casino Gambling Secrets” and “Get the Edge at Low Limit Texas Hold’em,” which are available online at www.billburton.com. He’s also an instructor for Golden Touch Craps: www.thecrapsclub.com

If possible avoid passing it through the X-Ray machine.

Care to elaborate?Travelers checks? No. They accept them, but they're not a bank, so they don't issue them. However, they should be able to give you a regular business check.
Casinos don't want to give you anything other than cash, simply because it's easier to continue gambling if you have cash rather than a check.
That said, if you get resistance, got to the main cage and/or talk to a supervisor. They SHOULD be willing to issue a check. They would probably be more willing if you only wanted a PARTIAL check. I.E. Take that $6K as $5K in a check, and $1K in cash - giving them the feeling that they have a chance you'll gamble that $1K.
Another alternative is to go to the credit office and ask them for alternatives. I don't have experience with this, but it seems to me that if they allow you to get credit, gamble it and lose, and then send a check when you get home, that the exact opposite must also apply. I.E. They should allow you to deposit your winnings, then you ask for a check to be mailed to you when you get home.
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Real story:
5 years ago at Foxwoods, my wife hit a straight flush on Let It Ride. She had won two small hands before that, so her base bet had been pressed up slightly. Sweet! With the base bet and the bonus pay, that one hand paid her almost $13K. When she was finally done playing, she went to the cage, and got TWO checks. One check for $7K, one for $4K and cash for the rest. It was no problem at all.
I forget what it said on the check, but it didn't say 'Foxwoods'. It had the name of the Indian Tribe, as well as a comment that indicated that the account was used exclusively to pay winners.This is getting out of my area, but the general policy is that a casino may give you a check for winnings only. They are supposed to guard against being used to launder cash. It is easiest to establish the fact that winnings are winnings if you use a marker to begin with. 6K is not a large amount to a lot of casinos, and may not warrant the fuss of writing up a check. For 6K, I would fold it, wrap it with a rubber band, and keep it in my pocket, including through the x-ray machine. Luggage stores sell hidden pouches that can store up to 20K or so, but for 6K, I wouldn't fuss with it. If your local bank has a branch in LV, you could make a cash deposit there.

Congratulations on LEAVING the casino with money. Its rare for me!

Oh, btu it's easy. Just bring along the amount you want to gamble, call it X, plus an extra amount, call it Y. Then you'll always leave with Y dollars. No trouble at all, as long as Y=> $1.
Seriously, I posted elsewhere about my first trip to Vegas. I ended saying 'I gambled, I saw the sights, I did some shopping and had over $100 left. To me that means I did ok.'