Chips

The chips are kept in front of the dealer. $5, $25, $100, and $500 denominations are usually red, green, black and purple. However, there are exceptions. Casinos used to use silver dollars for $1 chips. They now use $1 slot tokens or generally white or specialty chips. Most casinos use coins for lower amounts, but chips do exist for 25¢ and 50¢.  $2.50 chips exist in some casinos and are usually pink. These are used to pay off Blackjacks. Blackjack pays 3:2 and must be paid with three coins on bets like $5 and $25 if pink chips do not exist. Larger chips are more likely to vary in color and size. For example, $1,000 chips are often orange or yellow and sometimes slightly larger. Typical chips are made of a clay composite, compression molded and weigh 9.5 grams each, though there are other weights. Cheaper casinos may use ceramic chips. European chips of higher value are often oblong shaped. Some casinos have experimented with chips that include RFID (Radio Frequency ID) chips that allow a casino to count the chips in your pocket and detect chips leaving the casino.

The chip tray is always kept fairly full to keep the action going and entice players. If the lights go out, you will see every dealer fold her hands over the tray in unison like a Broadway musical. It’s all about the money. Indeed chips used to be as good as money in Las Vegas. You could use one casino’s chips in another and even buy merchandise with chips. You can still tip with chips — no one will turn them down. However, since a couple of casinos went bankrupt, they are no longer considered as good as money. In fact,

 © 2009 Norman Wattenberger