Originally Posted by atLAS, aLAS

This side trip into airport taxis is actually covered in another current thread. Lets get back to changing money....

The best exchange rates in Lima are offered by the casinos. They use one price to exchange $ to soles and the same price to exchange soles to $. In my most recent time in Lima, last month, spot was 2.82 and the casinos were offering...2.82.

That being said, they are not a public utility. If you buy in and try to cash right out again, they will give you back your original currency. They are small enough that they can see that. But if you buy in, then go to dinner, or put the chips in your pocket and cash out the next day, then you can change quite a large amount. I held several thousand dollars of chips from two of the larger casinos and there were no questions when I cashed them out more than a week later. Of course I had my choice of currency when I cashed out, and they had no idea what currency I had bought in with. I did gamble of course; there might have been questions if I had not.

If you are reluctant to gamble, I would do my buy in at the cage. If you are wanting to change $ to soles, I would buy in for an odd amount, like $1300 instead of $1000, and ask for soles denominated chips. Then I would go to the bathroom, then I would leave the casino. Then I would come back when there was a different employee at the cashiers cage. Voila! The $20 that would have gone to the moneychanger is now in your pocket.