ATMs for Cannabis Dispensaries: How to Get One and Why You Need Two

If you’re looking for an ATM company for your cannabis dispensary, I can help. I’m Meghan Stamelos, Vice President of ATM Money Machine. I’ve been with the company for 18 years, and we’ve been putting ATMs in dispensaries for about eight of them. We place ATMs in dispensaries at no cost in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Washington, DC, and we sell ATMs to dispensaries in all 50 states.

Here’s what a dispensary ATM can do. One Maryland dispensary we work with has two of our ATMs. In October 2026, those two machines handled 2,422 withdrawals, gave customers $232,640 in cash and brought in $7,280 in surcharge revenue. That’s one month.

To get started, see our cannabis dispensary ATM program or call me at 609-641-7300.

Why can’t dispensaries take credit cards?

Visa, Mastercard, American Express and the other card networks treat cannabis purchases as illegal under federal law, and they don’t allow them on their cards. So a dispensary can’t run a card the way a normal store does, and even after some medical cannabis was moved to Schedule III in April 2026, the card networks haven’t changed their rules. That’s why cannabis is still mostly a cash business. Cash made up about 65% of dispensary sales across 2024 and 2025, according to Green Check Verified.

What about cashless ATMs?

A lot of dispensaries tried cashless ATMs to get around this. The customer puts in a debit card and PIN, the purchase gets coded as an ATM withdrawal, and the dispensary hands back the change in cash. It’s a card purchase made to look like an ATM withdrawal, and the card networks know it.

Visa warned banks about cashless ATMs in a December 2021 compliance memo, and in 2023 Mastercard told banks and processors to shut down cannabis purchases on its debit cards. In 2025, Visa went after cashless ATMs again and made an example of the multi-state dispensary operator Trulieve. Dispensaries that keep doing it can get cut off and fined. We see dispensaries get shut down over this all the time.

Forbes just covered this in November 2026. The president of the ATM Industry Association told them that banks and card networks audit cashless ATMs and shut them down without notice, and he called cash from legitimate, fully compliant ATMs the “gold standard” for cannabis retail.

A real ATM doesn’t have that problem. Your customer takes cash out of their own bank account and pays you with it. There’s no card purchase to get flagged, and nothing for you to get shut down over.

How much does a dispensary ATM make?

These are real numbers from our own monthly statements. I left the dispensary names out.

Your numbers will depend on your traffic and your surcharge. Even so, look at the Pennsylvania dispensary with two ATMs. Its surcharge is only $2.25, and those two machines still brought in $5,190.75 in a month. The last row is a dispensary with just one ATM, and it brought in $3,474. Two is still what I recommend, and here’s why.

Why I always recommend two ATMs

With two ATMs, you never have downtime. If one is down for a bill jam, a service visit or low cash, the other one keeps working, so your customers can always get cash and you never lose a sale over it.

You can put them side by side, or put one in the waiting room and one on the sales floor. The Pennsylvania dispensary above has one in the lobby and one in the sales room. Which setup is better depends on your store, and I’m happy to help you figure it out.

How to get an ATM for your dispensary

There are two ways to do it. You can buy your own ATM, or we can place ATMs in your dispensary at no cost.

Option 1: Buy your own ATM

Buying is available in all 50 states.

• You own the ATM and keep 100% of the surcharge revenue.
• You supply the cash and load it yourself.
• You can track it online, with alerts when something needs attention.
• It ships pre-programmed and ready to go, and we handle the processing in-house.
• You get lifetime technical support, a standard parts warranty and the option to upgrade to a lifetime warranty on new ATMs.

Buying is best if you’re comfortable handling cash and want to keep the whole surcharge.

Option 2: Get ATMs placed at no cost

This is for owners who want the extra income without the work. It’s available in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Washington, DC.

• We own the ATMs, and you pay nothing upfront.
• We install one to three ATMs at your location, and for a dispensary I recommend two.
• We supply and load the cash.
• We monitor the ATMs 24/7 and handle all maintenance and repairs.
• You can log in anytime to see transactions and cash levels.
• You keep 50% of the surcharge.

No hidden fees and no headaches. If something needs service, that’s on us. You’re completely hands off, and still keep 50% of all the profits.

Which one should you pick?

If you want the biggest share of the surcharge and you’re fine handling the cash, buy. If you want no cost and no cash handling, go with placement, as long as you’re in one of the states we cover. Either way, I would get two.

Questions to ask any dispensary ATM company

• Is this a real ATM, or a cashless ATM?
• Who owns the ATM, and what happens to it if we stop working together?
• Who loads the cash, and how often?
• What is the exact split on the surcharge, and where do I see it?
• Do you monitor the ATMs around the clock, and what happens when one goes down?
• Who do I call when something breaks, and does a real person pick up?
• Are there any fees to me, now or later?
• How long have you been working with dispensaries?

If a company can’t answer these clearly, keep looking.

Frequently asked questions

Get an ATM for your dispensary

I’d love to help you get ATMs into your dispensary. Call me at 609-641-7300, email atmmegs@atmmoneymachine.com or see our cannabis dispensary ATM program.

Meghan Stamelos
Vice President, ATM Money Machine