Look at this YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mevVt5sHDNA

When returning from foreign travel, you can carry any amount of cash, as long as you declare it on your reentry customs form. Failure to report the international transportation of money is a violation of the Currency and Foreign Transaction Reporting Act. Currently, the correct form is FINCEN Form 105.

Here is the official word from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files … orting.pdf.

And, here is the current Form 105, https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/fi … 5_cmir.pdf.

Within the U.S., there is no such requirement to report any cash you are carrying. And, the TSA are not federal agents, and have no authority to seize anything on your person that are not airplane travel prohibited items. If you are about to be given a body search, ask for a private room. If they ask why in public, say it’s private. When you are in the private screening room, immediately inform them you are carrying cash and did not want that publicly known, for obvious reasons. You might also be prepared with a note to hand to the TSA personnel that want to search you, saying “I frequent casinos and carry cash”.

There could be the odd case where the TSA turns you over to the local authorities – they might have never seen anyone leave a casino WITH money. Local law enforcement’s understanding of the law can be sketchy – they are not lawyers, as my father (Judge) would often tell me. If that happens, insist on a receipt of the full amount and take it to an attorney. You’ll win that one.

For domestic flights, a much better protection would be for you to enroll in the TSA Preapproval program. You only need to stop by or make an appointment with a local TSA Preapproval office. Bring your Driver License and Passport, or 2nd form of ID. It’s worth doing, and you’ll almost always skip the body search. You will also no longer have to remove your belt or shoes. Go here for all the information and to get started, https://www.tsa.gov/precheck.

I couldn’t agree with you more Preacher. Thanks for the info. I have gotten both the pre approval and global entry which my credit card company reimburses me for. It has eliminated a lot of wasted time and hassles. Again, great information, thanks.

Thanks for the information. This is something I never thought about until now.

Thanks to Preacher for his well researched report.
There are some things that I want to be sure to cover. The most important thing that we need to know about while traveling internationally is that the $10,000 dollar limit is not applied to only one traveler but to travelers making the trip together. This means that if you and someone else, wife, relative or friend are traveling together that limit applies to all of the funds that you are carrying cumulatively. Don’t fly to the Caribbean while you are carrying 8,000 and your wife is carrying another 8,000 since that would be over the limit.
Another point that folks may need to be aware of is that in many departure points there will be an office where the reports can be done prior to departing. In this situation you can file a report, in private, and get a receipt of this report to carry with you. Doing it this way keeps the information more private.
I have on occasion traveled with quite a bit of cash and have some things that I do to protect myself. The most important thing that I do is use this wallet https://www.amazon.com/Secure-Travel-Pa … 1YF6NFBZHY when I travel. I can easily put over $10,000 and my passport inside. I then attach it within my carry on so that it is very difficult to remove. By using this wallet to transport cash and whatever else I choose it protects things from being seen in the xray machines.
Before I discovered this "Faraday cage" I was leaving Las Vegas with over $40,000 because of several very big wins. I was really nervous carrying that much cash and was clutching my carry on as if I was a drug smuggler and I’m certain that TSA noticed this. While it was going through the xray I was watching it like a hawk waiting on the other side. When I got to the other side I noticed the xray tech call a supervisor over as he stopped the belt trapping the carry on inside the machine and my heart was in my throat. The supervisor took a look and then looked at the tech like he was crazy and simply motioned him to keep it moving as if to say to him "hey this is Vegas, everyone has cash". Needless to say I was quite relieved.
It’s important to be safe while carrying cash since cash is a target for criminals. never show all of your cash inside a casino whether at a table or the cashiers cage. There are criminals who scout the cashiers cages and tables to look for people who have a large amount of cash and to follow the players in an attempt to get them in a place to attack them. I have been followed after big wins a couple of times and saw the situation developing and was able to get to a safe place before anything could happen. Make certain that you’re always looking in every direction.
Good luck and protect yourself at all times.

Great info BTK!

I carry that very same wallet!

Dom

What if you convert the cash to Money orders ? I think the limit is $1000 per money order. 40 money orders would take up less room and I don’t think you need an ID to buy a $1000 money order ?

Mr PIP.
The laws that we need to be aware of are for cash or other financial instruments that are like cash and are treated as cash.
If you are entering or exiting the USA for or from foreign travel, cashiers checks are viewed as cash as are other instruments. I would not recommend trying to hide anything at any ports of entry coming back into the country especially since being honest has little consequence in the short or long run, whereas being suspected of being a drug dealer, smuggler or other criminal can have huge problems. "I’m going to the Bahamas to gamble" is a perfectly reasonable reason to have cash on your person. You must, of course, declare this cash when entering the Bahamas and on reentry to the USA. You could ask for a bank check or a wire to get large winnings into the USA which isn’t looked upon as cash like cashiers and travelers checks are. The bank checks would be made payable to you personally and not payable to "cash".
Never lie or try to do anything shady at any port of entry whether that port is foreign or domestic. Laws at or NEAR ports of entry are different in that domestically you have fewer rights there than when you are away from these areas. You can be searched, questioned and detained at these check points at will without the protections that you may have elsewhere. If you are asked about anything, simple and honest explanations usually will result in these officials just being reasonable for most interactions.
The reasons to hide money are for personal protection and not for hiding anything from our benevolent government.
Now about that suitcase of money and the dead body in your trunk…..I don’t know you and won’t return your calls. Just sayin.
BTK

We have seen too many stories lately about what can happen if you lie to the government. Don’t do it!

Remember though that the security at a casino are not the police. They might act like they ae but they are not

Dom

This one is nice as it’s a belt also…. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01 … UTF8&psc=1