Quick Tips

A Surprising Place to Potentially Exchange Leftover Foreign Currency

Last week, for my Travel Tuesday installment, I wrote about a few different options you have when it comes to obtaining foreign currency for traveling. Naturally, each of these approaches had its own set of pros and cons. For example, buying foreign funds ahead of time or pulling out money from an ATM while you’re overseas can be helpful, but you may end up bringing home extra cash (or going on an unnecessary spending spree before departure). Well, by sheer happenstance, I came across an interesting option for exchanging of any leftover currency you might come home with: hitting up the casino.

While perusing the Park MGM site for other reasons, I came across a question about using foreign currency. To my surprise, the answer read, “We cash in foreign currency at the casino cage at no charge.” It adds that the rate changes daily, which is to be expected. With this newfound knowledge, I can’t help but think that this could potentially be a half-decent option for making use of foreign cash you may have lying around.

Obviously I haven’t tried this play out for myself so I don’t know how well it will actually work in practice. However, from what I found online, it sounds as though the rates offered by the big casinos are usually pretty favorable. That’s good to know since other options such as airport exchange locations can be quite expensive — weird to think that the casino might be the ones not ripping people off, right?

Personally, I think it could be fun to use your various leftover world currencies to fund just a little casino action. As always, though, don’t risk any funds that you can’t afford to lose. On that note, I also assume that you can cash out your converted dollars almost immediately after exchanging for them. Therefore, even if you don’t feel like gambling, you may still be able to take advantage of these supposedly competitive exchange rates.

Sure, this tip might not be the most practical overall since it relies on you being near a casino (and one that will exchange your currency). Still, as someone who never would have thought of such a thing otherwise, I think it’s a pretty fascinating concept and could definitely be something to keep in mind for your next Vegas adventure. Of course, it’s probably a good idea to check the FAQ for your casino of choice ahead of time to ensure that this plan will work for you. Good luck!

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