US Dollar
The US Dollar is the official currency of the United States, as well as East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador and Panama. It's also an unofficial currency in several other countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti, Lebanon and Guatemala, and several US and non-US territories. The name comes from the valley in Bohemia where silver for coins was mined in the 1500s. The German for valley is "tal", the coins were known as "Joachimtalers" ("from the valley Joachimstal"), which got shortened to "talers", which then entered the English language as "dollars".
The US Dollar is split into ten dimes, and dime is split into ten cents or pennies. Coins are issued in the US for the penny, nickel ($0.05), dime and quarter ($0.25). People unfamiliar with US coinage can become confused as the nickel is bigger than the dime, and the dime is smaller than a penny. There are also half-dollar and dollar coins, but these are not very popular. Bank notes are issued for 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 dollars. Again, people unfamiliar with American money can become confused as all bank notes are roughly the same size and colour. Each note features a notable American: George Washington ($1 - President), Thomas Jefferson ($2 - President), Abraham Lincoln ($5 - President), Alexander Hamilton ($10 - US Secretary of the Treasury), Andrew Jackson ($20 - President), Ulysses S. Grant ($50 - President) and Benjamin Franklin ($100 - Statesman and inventor).
The US Dollar symbol "$" is thought to derive from the "ps" symbol for the peso. Eventually the p and s were written over one another, creating the symbol. The sign for cent is the letter c with a line down it, in the same way the dollar symbol is the letter s with a line down it.
US Dollar history
The US Dollar began to be minted in 1792, in mimicry of the Spanish dollar. US dollars, Spanish dollars and Mexican pesos were all legal tender side-by-side until 1857. The dollar has remained the legal currency of the United States ever since. The most common nickname for the currency is the "buck", although no one knows where this term originates.
The $100 dollar bill is the largest note currently in circulation in the US, although $500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000 and $100,000 dollar bills have been produced in the past. All notes above $100 ceased being printed in 1946 and ceased being legal tender in 1969, mainly because they were used in organised crime.
US Dollar today
The value of the US Dollar when compared against the British Pound usually fluctuates between £0.60 and £0.70, although before 1980 one dollar had only ever been worth less than £0.50.
Despite the restrictions on US-based players playing in online casinos and poker rooms, the dollar is the most widely-accepted currency at online casino sites. In fact, for a high percentage of casinos, the dollar is the currency of choice. This seems mainly to be because the US is probably the country most associated with casinos and gambling, and before the US crackdown on online gambling, a lot of sites originated in the country. The vast majority of online casinos - if not all - will happily accept transactions in US Dollars.