Closed businesses = fewer coins in circulation
When I was in middle school, around seventh or eighth grade, my family and I took a road trip to South Dakota. I know, it sounds weird, but it was cool: Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills, Wall Drug, the Badlands, and we were even there during the Sturgis bike rally, which became a bit notorious this year. The highlight, though, was probably Deadwood, the old wild west town where Wild Bill Hickock was killed playing poker, an incident which gave rise to the nickname “Dead Man’s Hand” for holding two pair, Aces and Eights.
Gambling was legal in Deadwood and while we were not a gambling family, my parents gave it a go for a few bucks while my brother and I parked ourselves in an upstairs arcade. After a while, my dad came running up, all excited to show us that he had a won a bucket full of…nickels. Honestly, it was pretty exciting, but having a moment like that might be tough right now, as some Las Vegas-area casinos are finding out. Those that still have coin-operated slot machines are having trouble keeping them running because of a nationwide coin shortage created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The coin shortage is a product of a couple of things. Most importantly, with so many businesses closed, both temporarily and permanently, people simply aren’t going into stores and restaurants and using cash as much as they normally do. Second, many people prefer to use cards instead of cash (even more so than normal) because of the fear of handling money that may have the coronavirus on it. Put these together and coins are not getting point back into circulation.
Casinos can’t get coins from banks
Adam Wiesberg, manager of the El Cortez casino in downtown Las Vegas, said that he usually has about $120,000 worth of coins ready to go for the approximately 100 coin-operated gaming machines. When Nevada’s casinos closed in mid-March, he deposited most of that in the bank, leaving just $30,000 on hand. But now that the El Cortez has reopened, he needs more coins. And he’s not going to get them.
“Our first coin order that we did after reopening, in July, we ordered $30,000 in quarters,” Wiesberg told the Las Vegas Sun. “When the Brinks people came, they brought us just $500 in quarters. That’s when we realized firsthand that there was a coin issue. We’re fortunate we kept that $30,000.”
Over in Henderson, the Skyline is having a similar problem. It has 88 coin-operated machines.
“If you try to get coins from the bank right now, it’s very limited,” Skyline general manager Sam Kiki said. “We would usually order coins every day or every other day. Right now, we can’t get them more than once per week. The coin machines, people love them. They love to hear the money coming out of them, especially the old-timers.”
Kiki actually bought a $10,000 coin sorting machine just so the casino could recycle its own coins, rather than taking them to the bank.
To encourage people to give the casinos their coins, El Cortez and Boyd Gaming’s properties are offering free coin cashing services. El Cortez typically charged 5% for the privilege.
