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State of Play
- The US has stopped minting pennies
- Major casino operators, including MGM Resorts and Caesars, will round up cash transactions to the nearest nickel in customers’ favor.
- This means small automatic savings on cash purchases at casino retail outlets and bars, while card and digital payments remain exact to the cent.
The US officially halted penny production in 2025 after more than 230 years, prompting casinos to adopt interim policies for cash change.
An internal MGM Resorts memo, “Interim Penny Transition Plan,” says the company will “round up to benefit customers” when guests pay with cash and receive change. Caesars confirmed it will do the same.
Digital transactions (debit, credit, gift cards and mobile apps) will still process to the exact cent.
Rounding rules outlined by MGM:
- 1–4 cents will be rounded up to $0.05
- 5 cents stays $0.05
- 6–9 cents are rounded up to $0.10 (or the next whole dime)
The move sidesteps the logistical headache of sourcing pennies (which cost about 3.7 cents to produce) and standardizes cash handling in a penniless environment.
MGM estimates policy could cost $137K per property annually
For players paying cash, the change is a modest win. Small purchases like snacks, drinks, or chips will often cost a few cents less than they otherwise would.
Card and app users are unaffected, so bettors who use cashless options should see no difference.
For operators, rounding up is primarily an optics-driven decision: it’s presented as guest-friendly but does carry a measurable cost. MGM’s memo estimates an average 2.5-cent cost per affected transaction. That adds up to roughly $137,000 per year for a property with 15,000 qualifying cash transactions daily.
Operationally, casinos will see lighter coin handling (armored-car loads, coin-counting, coin machines) and fewer penny-related errors, while tax calculations continue to reintroduce fractional cents due to sales tax. The change also ties into existing pandemic-era practices around TITO kiosks and abandoned ticket liabilities, which can yield small, ongoing revenues for some properties.
Based on reporting by Scott Roeben for Vital Vegas.
