D A tall blue box at the back of a Las Vegas casino in downtown Las Vegas could soon shake up the gambling industry.

That's the hope of Derek Stevens and Jordan Kelly, who met on the casino floor Wednesday as they prepared to launch the first Bitcoin ATM to be installed in casinos.

The 5-foot, 7-inch RoboCoin machine, which leans against a wall next to a hotel gift shop that accepts cryptocurrencies, will be powered up today, allowing customers to convert bitcoin into cash and cash.

"I'm nervous. I'm excited about it," Stevens, the owner of the casino, told Kelly, CEO of RoboCoin, which is based in Las Vegas. "But it's not something that can be expected so easily."

RoboCoin can hold up to $500,000 in cash. Kelley likes to think of rich foreign businessmen saving a lot of cash in bitcoin and emptying their online wallets in the form of dollars at casinos before traveling to Las Vegas.

"This will significantly change the international game market," he said. "It will add tremendous value from a game perspective."

RoboCoin became an international sensation in October when it launched the world's first Bitcoin ATM at a Canadian coffee shop. The machine made transactions worth $100,000 in the first eight days and $1 million in the first 29 days, Kelly said.

The company has made a leap. RoboCoin began selling ATMs worldwide, and shipped 55 units (20 of them are currently in operation) to places like Singapore, Japan, and Australia. Six are in the U.S.

Kelly called this machine from Company D "lucky number seven."

RoboCoin recently moved its headquarters to an office in an Ogden condominium where nine employees work on software. The machines are manufactured in Arizona, and RoboCoin has a team in Reno. Kelly declined to discuss revenue figures.

D began accepting Bitcoin for non-gaming transactions in January, and Stephens said the cryptocurrency attracted people from Europe and Asia, a crowd he didn't expect.

"It broadened our target base," said Stephens, who once helped revitalize the Fremont Street Casino, known as Fitzgerald. "I wouldn't even know how to target a specific region in Europe or a specific region in Asia."

Stephens says it has received approval from the Nevada Gaming Control Board to install the machine after a review of the security of the robocoin deal.

Customers must set up a robocoin account before depositing or withdrawing cash. The process involves entering a phone number to receive a confirmation text message, entering that confirmation code into the machine, creating a PIN, sliding into a government-issued identification card, and placing your hand on a scan for a palm vein pattern, or "biology certification," before the machine takes a picture of the customer.

Kelly said everything takes less than five minutes, and once the setup is complete, customers can use Bitcoin ATMs through phone calls and PIN checks.

Regulators have not allowed Bitcoin to gamble, in part because of the volatility of the virtual currency.

"We're very clean about this," Stephens said of Bitcoin ATMs. "This will be a completely different ballgame that will be a more transnational foundation. If people take Bitcoin and turn it into currency, they are free to use it. They like other people who have dollars in their pockets, but they are free to use it."

Kelly said he expects to have another Bitcoin ATM in Las Vegas by the end of June and at least five more by the end of the year, including some of the other casinos.

A 27-year-old graduate of The Meadows school named Kelley, a native of Las Vegas, is closely related to the gaming industry.

His father, Kevin Kelly, recently stepped down as vice president of Station Casino. Kevin Kelly's sister is married to station CEO and chairman Frank Putita III, who is Jordan Kelly's uncle and godfather. His grandfather, Robert Kelly, was a former general manager of the Las Vegas Hilton, now LVH.

"The presence of a machine in the casino is a testament to how far Bitcoin has come," he said. "We've built a Bitcoin ATM that's most compliant with the space, and we shine a very compliant light on Bitcoin."

More and more Southern Nevada companies are starting to embrace Bitcoin, and ATMs are a promising sign for crypto enthusiasts.

"It's great for visitors to Las Vegas," said Julian Tosh, who runs BitCoinsInVegas.com . "Bitcoin is a global currency. Las Vegas is a global destination. People can come here with Bitcoin and be funded for entertainment and gambling in their local currency. It's really good for the tourism industry. This makes Bitcoin easier for people to use in our local economy."

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