Coming Soon to Vegas: Casino ATMs That Melt Your Gold Jewelry?
Posted on: February 10, 2026, 07:08h.
Last updated on: February 10, 2026, 07:37h.
- A viral video claims Las Vegas casino ATMs will soon melt jewelry for gambling credits
- Nevada law NRS 647 prevents instant gold smelting to curb stolen property laundering
- The Smart Gold Store machines are located in China, with no immediate plans to hit the U.S.
A viral Reddit post on Tuesday showed video of a machine melting gold under the headline “Casino ATM: melts down your gold jewelry at 2200°F, verifies the purity and weight – go gamble!”
The since-deleted video shows someone dropping a gold ring into a kiosk and then watching as a robotic arm moves it into a furnace that melts it and deposits money into the user’s bank account.
Vegas influencers distributed the footage but added the twist: “Coming soon to Vegas!”
Fool’s Gold
The footage was real. It was released by Kinghood Group, a Shenzhen-based Fortune China 500 company. Check it out…
The machine, known as the Smart Gold Store, is a miniature, automated refinery. Once you drop your jewelry in, it uses X-rays and ultrasound for a high-tech pre-scan that checks for purity. Only then does it fire up the furnace. While the viral video makes the melting look instant, the actual heavy lifting — which includes a second scan analyzing the liquid gold — takes between 10 and 30 minutes.
But neither the Pawn Stars nor degenerate gamblers have anything to worry about because there are no plans to bring the gold-recycling machine to Las Vegas — at least not anytime soon.
The world’s first Smart Gold Store was introduced at the Global Harbor shopping mall in Shanghai, China, last April. That was followed by two locations in Macau: the Centro Comerical Praia Grande shopping mall and L’Arc Macao, a massive casino-hotel in the city’s NAPE district.
Several others were also rolled out in Hong Kong.
Why Vegas Can’t Play
A machine that melts metal at 2,200°F is a fire hazard that requires industrial-grade ventilation. No Vegas resort is going to put a smelting furnace next to a row of Buffalo Gold slots.
They wouldn’t be allowed to for two main reasons anyway:
- Under Nevada’s NRS 647, any business that buys secondhand gold must hold that item in its original form for a specific period (usually 30–90 days) so police can check it against stolen property reports. (Basically, a machine that instantly melts gold is a laundering machine for jewelry thieves — making it illegal to operate in the state.)
- Nevada law and the IRS require Form 8300 filings for large casino cash transactions and strict “Know Your Customer” protocols to prevent money laundering, which are too complex to automate.
Good as Gold
Though the original Reddit post was deleted, the hilarious comments it generated remain.
“Lost all your money gambling and can’t play anymore? Well… you still have your wedding ring!” wrote @Ghost-oh.
“Why leave? We’ll take anything you have of value if you just stay here. When you’re out of jewelery, why not nip next door to the Kidney-O-Matic?” added @-SaC.
“No, I don’t have a gambling problem. Now, just let me pull this tooth out…” commented @to-fire1.
There are actual gold ATMs in Vegas – called GoldATM — in 13 locations, including Caesars Palace, the Strat and Circa. They don’t buy or melt jewelry, however. They dispense 24K gold foil notes for cash.
Kinghood Group’s has not even filed for a U.S. patent on the smelting component yet, which would be required for the company to legally import the machine.
However, the company recently debuted an international version of Gold Smart, and said that it hopes to expand to the U.S. eventually.
The NAMA OneShow — the world’s biggest vending machine expo — is coming to L.A. in April 2026. And industry whispers suggest that the Smart Gold Store, or a similar competitor, will be the “showstopper” tech revealed there to court local operators.
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