One of the more interesting things about working here at BC Ventures is that many of those working here aren’t gamblers, especially not to the level of many of those watching Brian Christopher (and none of us play at Brian’s level, or at Brian’s frequency). That’s actually a helpful feature because we see things from different perspectives.
Earlier this year we had a leadership session at one of our local casinos here in the Palm Springs area, and while playing slots a few of us ordered drinks from a cocktail server. My colleague then realized she didn’t have any smaller bills and was mad at herself for not bringing smaller bills.
I asked her if she knew about casino bill breakers and when she didn’t, I wondered how many others reading Flip The Switch is well versed on the topic, especially when these machines aren’t always upfront about the various features they have.
So first, a quick identification: The machines that function as ticket redemption and ATM machines also almost universally can take a larger bill and break it down. Since they already have cash to dispense for bank withdrawals or redeeming tickets, it’s a natural extension to also an exchange of smaller bills for larger ones.
Insert a $20 or $100 bill, for instance, and it can give you smaller increments. The more user friendly machines will pop up options (such as 4 $5s or 3$5s and 5 $1s for singles); the more basic will just give you whatever amount of the next bill size down equals what you had put in (5 $20s for a $100, etc.). If you put in a $5, it can give you 5 $1s as well.
This can be a helpful way to quickly get change for tips for drink service, valet and so on when you’re visiting a casino. I usually will take advantage when I’m running out of smaller bills, which can happen if I don’t have any unusual-sized tickets from the slots.
When I’ve done mini group pulls with friends, the bill breaker can help me quickly get the smaller bills I need to disperse the money we remove from the machine when we’re done, whether up or down.
Of course, as a plan B it’s also helpful to remember the casino cashiers can assist with precise and specific requests, given the human interaction vs. the limited options the machines may offer. But if the cashier line is long, the bill breakers can get the basics done easily.
