Nah, the whole point was to have such an overwhelming physical representation of the reward.  A check for $15K is sliced by taxes and allocated to something mentally with little physical stimulus.  It's only $750 twenties which would be about the size of a hardback book.  In ones, it's literally a briefcase full of money, so even though the amount is the same, you're like a guy in a movie, not just someone who's going to pay off a credit card.