Do You Host an Event That Uses Fake Money for Prizes?

 

The first semester of school may just be coming to an end, but there are already a number of parents and committees who have been working for months on the high school After Prom event. From sorting and counting the fake money stacks to the hours that it takes to create decorations that transform the school’s hallways into this year’s theme, there is plenty of work to do long before the end of the year celebration for junior, seniors, and their dates.
Like many high schoolers, and parent of high schools, in fact, it is pretty easy to think that the world revolves around what they have going on. Take double sided prop money, for instance. In the middle of planning for the biggest high school event of the year, it can be easy to think that all of the money and gambling props were created for just your kind of even. The fact of the matter is, however, the fake money that so many high schools and other fundraising groups use was really developed for a very different purpose. In fact, movie production prop houses have produced nearly 270 types and 2,000 sub-types of movie money between the year 1970 and 2000. Not surprising, there are many guidelines and rules in place when it comes to making legal duplications of currency. And while the goal of media money props that are used in the making of movies is to provide an authentic experience for the viewer, the government has very specific regulations about just how real this these media money props can be.
Did you know, for instance, that reproduced bills must be either less than 75% of more than 150% the size of a real bill, and that they may only be one-sided? These guidelines which date back to the Counterfeit Detection Act of 1992 place strict guidelines so that no matter how real media money props look, they will not make their way into circulation.

As recent technologies like color bars and holographic images may make replicating new money much more challenging, there are still many old bills still in circulation. Because this will always be the case, in fact, the government will always closely regulate the production of any custom prop money, whether it will be used in a movie hit on the big screen or stacks of cash given to high school students when the enter an After Prom casino. It is important to note that prop movie money cannot be used to make any type of purchase, and the illegal use of prop money can be punishable by fines of up to $250,000 and up to 20 years in state prison.