ATM fee at casino is highway robbery

Everybody hates ATM fees, right? But sometimes we’re willing to go ahead and pay the levy because we really need our money right now. Sometimes, though, the fee is so outrageous that we can’t bring ourselves to do it.

This happened to me today at Mandalay Bay. I was meeting some people for lunch and didn’t have time to stop and withdraw money from a no-fee ATM. I figured I’d swallow hard and pay the typically exhorbitant fee charged by casino-based machines.

I didn’t expect, however, that the ATM at Mandalay would expect me to pay $4.99 to withdraw $20.

$4.99!

I was expecting $2 or maybe $3. That’s bad enough. But $4.99 is absolutely outrageous. I quickly canceled my withdrawal and found another way to pay for my lunch.

The Nevada Legislature really ought to take a look at this. I can understand a modest fee to withdraw money from an ATM not owned or operated by your bank. But $5 to withdraw $20 is nothing less than highway robbery.