I know Option B seems like the best one. It takes money to make money. But, I would pick Option A. Option B is too risky. Who knows where the hell that money came from. It could be acquired illegally and they want me to be their “fall guy”.
This came up in the context of gambling and recruiting people for “teams”. I have tried to recruit people in the past, but they were scared to “gamble”. So, I offered them $100 to game with, so they wouldn’t be playing with scared money. Still no takers lol. I was told by other “hustlers” that in order to recruit people I would need to present them with a suitcase full of cash. If I was blessed with a suitcase full of cash, I don’t know if I would even use it for casinos, even through other people. Backing someone for $100 seems more safe and practical.
But let’s extend this outside of gambling also. That would be more fun.
With the $100 comes the subconscious need to do good/right with it, to be above board.
On the other hand, a mysterious and possibly ill-gotten suitcase full of money erases that subconscious need.
I just WAGged out that a typical rollaboard carryon can hold 50,000 US bills if stacked neatly. It might be even more than that, but let’s say 50K bills.
If they’re all $20s, you’re looking at $1M. Anyone offering me $1M in cash to engage in some venture with them is not someone I want to be anywhere near. I might have no moral qualms about doing something bad with that money. But I’m pretty sure the backers and their henchman will be displeased with me if I don’t succeed at [whatever], and I’ll have plenty of qualms about what happens to me next.
For $100? My response is “Why bother?”
ISTM that when you’re recruiting people to act as agents for you, the thing you want is a) trustworthiness & work ethic, and b) skill at whatever they’re supposed to be doing for you.
It also seems to me the overlap between people who think “I’m scared to gamble with my own money” and people who are skilled enough at gambling to be useful to me is a very teeny number. Even if the only skill I’m asking of them to keep betting the max on some slot machine I plunk them down in front of.
Someone gives me a suitcase of cash to gamble with, I’m going to be very worried about what happens if I lose a bunch of it. Talk about scared money!
What you want to do is start somewhat smaller, like with $2,000. 20 hundreds in an envelope. You take the envelope and we’re going to meet… wait, don’t just put it in your pocket, you have to keep it safe. Here, let me show you, put your other money in the envelope, too, so it’s together. Put the envelope in the line of your belt so the coat covers it, like this. Ok, here’s the envelope, tuck it like I said, good. Now we’re going to enter separately so nobody knows we’re a team, and meet up by table 20, the one next to Pai Gow. Ok? see you in 10 minutes, partner!
$100 wouldn’t bankroll a lemonade stand. To be even faintly realistic, the scenario has to be more even. The fee for a McDonald’s franchise is $45,000, with a guarantee of “a minimum of $500,000 of non-borrowed personal resources.” The suitcase of cash would barely cover that.
Absent any context, I’m going to assume that the offer with the suitcase of cash is something sketchy, probably involving either me doing something illegal (and then likely taking the fall), or me personally getting scammed.
But with the context, a stranger inviting me to join a gambling team, no matter what the proposed payment is, is also something that will have me assuming that it’s sketchy and likely to end poorly for me.
If, no matter what, I’m going to assume that it’s probably going to end poorly for me, then you’d better be at least paying me enough that I think it’s worth the risk.
Someone will be paying taxes on the suitcase full of money unless you can hide it very well, or you are already involved in an illegal situation. Look into how they caught Al Capone. Not for any crime but taxes on illegal unreported income. There is no such thing as free money, the government wants their cut, and then it may become legal.
Sometimes the giver pays the tax, sometimes the receiver, but someone will pay.
You know, it could be a different sort of trick. It could be a suitcase full of Lebanese pounds, or Vietnamese dong… I am reminded of a Top Gear special where they were given shoeboxes full of cash, only to find out it wasn’t enough to buy much more than an ancient, used scooter.
Just to have fun with the scenario. But again, assuming any currency of major value, I’m walking away. Someone is playing games, and if I don’t know who it is, I’m just one of the many possible suckers.
I guess i was once given $20 by a casino in the hopes i would gamble it. (I was attending a bridge tournament on their property.) I had to walk through a room of slot machines to collect the cash. Looking at those people obsessively pulling levers, with glazed eyes, scared me. So i noped out of that pretty firmly.
I think the telling point to the whole thread is the OP referring to joining a casino gambling team as a “business opportunity”.
I certainly have had my businesses bankrolled with a bunch more than a suitcase-worth of money. But it came in the form of bank loans and “angel” investors, not a literal suitcase of cash.
Taking on debt or issuing private equity to fund a business is one thing. Receiving a chunk of cash that’s insufficient to start a real business, but plenty enough to make some hoodlum really angry with you seems like the worst of all worlds.