John, The currency in Costa Rica is the colone not to be confused with an Italian word for a male body part. In all of the casinos I played in while visiting Costa Rica, you can play with colones or dollars. When I last visited, I purchased colones on the black market downtown in San Jose next to the banking area. I walked down the street with a wad of $1 bills covered by a $100. The money exchangers thought I had all $100's & were jumping at the chance to change my stake into local currency. I bargained, & gave my business to the highest bidder, who then told me, in perfect English, where my heritage was from. I corrected him & told him that I was born in New York. After exchanging my money I was off to the casinos, where I was getting paid in chips that I cashed in for the current bank exchange rate. I made just a few pennies on the deal, but it was fun. In Curacao the casinos use chips in gilders & dollars. As Michael said., it is a common practice for foreign casinos to use both denominations. I always use the local monetary chips to play, especially if I buy money on the black market. A little piece of information. Prositution is legal in Costa Rica as it is in parts of Nevada. I have no idea why this information stays in my mind, but I thought I just pass it along to the group. If you have never visited Costa Rica, put it on your don't miss list. It is the "Land of Eternal Springtime" with cheap prices, georgeous scenary, great food, & fantastic fishing, among other things. I would retire there in a heartbeat!