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Golden Nugget machine pays each time you play
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K.M. CANNON/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
A 10-gram gold bar and American Eagle one-ounce coin are shown purchased Wednesday from an ATM at the Golden Nugget. » Buy this photo
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LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS
Updated: Jan. 11, 2011 | 6:13 p.m.
You're sitting before a slot machine at the Golden Nugget when it begins whirling and chirping with the news: You have just won $50.
Flush with excitement, you look and see an ATM that dispenses gold. Should you invest your winnings in a gram of the precious metal, which probably will increase its value over time or walk away with your hard-won cash?
While you might not be able to resist the lure of putting that $50 right back into the slot machine, Golden Nugget CEO Tilman J. Fertitta said he hopes the downtown casino's guests will get a kick out of the new Gold to Go ATM.
"It lets our guests win a little money in the casino and go right over to the machine: Make a little money, and invest it in a lot of money," Fertitta said.
The gold leaf-finished ATM, is near the "Hand of Faith," the largest golden nugget in the world, in the hotel's Gold Tower lobby.
The ATM, which is operated by German-based Ex Oriente Lux AG, dispenses 24-karat gold in five sizes: 1 gram, 2.5 grams, 5 grams, 10 grams and 1 ounce.
Ex Oriente Lux AG CEO Thomas Geissler was on hand Wednesday to make the first purchase: a 10-gram gold bar, emblazoned with the Golden Nugget logo, for $564. The gold is dispensed in a sealed black gift box.
The machine determines prices in real-time from the financial markets. Once you make your selection, the ATM holds the price for 10 minutes while you decide whether to keep gambling or make the purchase.
The Golden Nugget's Gold to Go ATM is the second of its kind in North America (the first is in Boca Raton, Fla.).
There are 14 other Gold to Go machines around the world, 11 of them in Germany.
Geissler said the ATM has been successful in Boca Raton, where the company refills the machine every two to three days. Geissler declined to say how much gold is kept in the machine at one time, though Fertitta said the ATM is secured at all times.
"We're not expecting anybody to put it on a motorcycle," he said.
Contact reporter Caitlin McGarry at cmcgarry@lv businesspress.com or 702-387-5273.
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vegaslee, he may have owned the Nugget, but his Executive offices were at the Mirage shortly after it opened. He even said himself, when he left downtown, he never went back, until I think he visited when 'da boys' owned it briefly and sold it to Uncle Tilly. I knows my Vegas history! Any other corrections?
jdsummerlin, Mr. Wynn owned the Golden Nugget until 31 May 2000. Just because you can't tell real gold from fake does not mean Mr. Wynn took it.
@Jeroethel - I guess it depends on what the person wants to do. I for one have been looking for a cheap way to buy some gold because of the price, as I already have some silver. Paper money is not real money, gold and silver have been money for 6000 years. If you are wanting to spend it, get the cash because you will lose a few dollars likely in the conversion, but if you want to hold it for a while the gold will be well worth it.
Gee, I just hit a Royal Flush. Give me a few pebbles/grams of Gold! Maybe my mortgage company will accept this as payment!
It's hardly shocking that the casino and/or vendor gets a commission. Try to find a gold dealer who doesn't charge a commission. Any gold purchased from this machine could be sold to any broker who deals in gold.
have a machine that vends kush
How much did Fetitta pay the RJ for the publicity stunt? Guess what Fertitta, gamblers don't want pieces of gold, they want MONEY. Good luck with that stupid machine.
I think that 'Hand of Faith' is fake? If you look closely, you can see the gold paint peeling off of it? I think Steve Wynn took the real one when he left the Nugget in 1990, and NEVER looked back with the Mirage?
Uncle Tilly, I think you've been bamboozled!?
I don't know, take a look at it and make you're own mind up. I think the 'Hand of Faith' is on Andrea Hissoms ring finger-in the form of a 10 karat heart shaped diamond, wrapped in platinum?
Items missing from this story:
What commission does the ATM charge to purchase the gold?
Will the casino buy back the gold?
I suspect the player is better off just cashing out his ticket for currency.