18 Vegas Casinos to Round Up Penniless Cash Transactions in Guests’ Favor
Posted on: February 18, 2026, 01:32h.
Last updated on: February 18, 2026, 01:57h.
- MGM and Caesars casinos will round cash change up to the nearest nickel for guests
- This interim policy follows the US Mint ending all penny production in November 2025
- Digital payments and penny slot machines will remain unaffected
The two largest Las Vegas casino operators are turning down the most literal opportunity possible to penny-pinch their customers. MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment, who collectively operate 18 Strip casinos, have each decided to round up to the nearest nickel, in favor of guests, when pennies are required to give change for cash transactions.
Penny for Your Goodwill?
Between 1-4 cents owed to customers will be settled with a nickel, between 6-9 cents will be settled by two nickels or a dime. Digital transactions made using a debit card, credit card, gift card or mobile app will still process to the exact cent.
According to an internal MGM Resorts memo leaked to Vital Vegas, its “interim penny transaction plan” will be in place “until we can make required changes to internal operating systems and/or until there is further legal clarity.”
A Caesars Entertainment source confirmed to Vital Vegas that their casinos will also round up.
This adds up to a potential loss to each casino of $137K a year (for 15,000 qualifying cash transactions per day and an average rounding cost of 2.5 cents per transaction, as per Vital Vegas’ math). That’s negligible compared to mega-casino bottom lines and a cost effective way to generate “guest-centric goodwill,” as the PowerPoint decks will no doubt phrase it.
Making Cents of It All
Though the US Mint ended production of the penny coin in November 2025, the one-cent unit of currency remains a thing. Until federal or state law changes the way prices, taxes, and accounting are calculated, businesses and governments must continue settling transactions to the cent.
Since the roughly 114 billion pennies already in circulation will gradually disappear without replacement, decisionmakers must develop rules for rounding cash transactions to the nearest 5 cents to ensure that cash payments can continue to be conducted and recorded accurately.
In Canada, which eliminated its pennies in 2012, most businesses round both down and up, with 1-2 cents becoming 0 and 3 cents or above becoming 5 cents.
Penny Slots Unaffected
As we reported last June, the end of the penny will not mean the end of penny slots. That’s because modern penny slots are too profitable to ditch and too easy to recalibrate to nickel increments. But it’s mostly because these machines are mythical anyway.
No slot machine in Las Vegas has sold a pull for a penny since the 1960s.
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