What are the casino chips. For everyone and everything

Nowadays nobody can be surprised by collecting coins, paper money, badges, various antiques and other items. However, almost no one realizes that some people are engaged in collecting chips at the Volcano of Fortune casino. And this is not a pure hobby for collecting, it also brings sufficient financial profit to individual collectors.

It is difficult to establish in what century the first collector of these items appeared and who they were. It can be assumed that the first chip collector was some player who decided to leave the chips of various casinos in which he played himself, as a keepsake of these establishments. Then other tokens were added to these tokens, incl. and donated by friends and acquaintances of our person incognito. Thus, the first collections of casino chips were formed.

Who is currently engaged in this type of collecting

There is no doubt that the gamblers themselves are predominantly the casino chip collectors themselves, who, in search of luck, travel or traveled to all corners of the world in order to earn money in the casino. And in memory of their voyages, they leave themselves lucky chips.

And if the players are delighted with the new chips that have appeared in their collection, then for the casino owners, the “withdrawal of chips” from the internal turnover of the casino causes some difficulties, but they do not lead to financial losses, since the cost of manufacturing one chip is much lower than its face value. On average, the cost of one chip is from 50 cents to 2 dollars, and their nominal value is about 2 to 5 dollars.

If players have to collect only chips from the turnover, which have significant wear during operation, then the manufacturers or customers of these chips (casino owners) are in a more advantageous position, since they can keep new chips in their collection without signs of turnover on their surface.

What are the parameters for evaluating casino chips as one of the collectibles

The cost of any item on the collectible market is determined based on the following factors: circulation, metal and condition. Also highly appreciated are casino chips that have already ceased to exist, as well as chips circulating in illegal gambling houses in countries where gambling is prohibited by national legislation.

Some casinos issue a limited edition of chips that are dedicated to the anniversary of the institution or some kind of holiday, which, due to their small circulation, later become a collectible rarity. So, for example, online casino JoyCasino, on the occasion of the release of their new game Bratva, ordered a new batch of chips with the image of the main character of the game.

How are casino chips evaluated?

For most collectibles, for example, in numismatics, there are specialized catalogs that allow you to find out the characteristics of the coins and their collection value.

But how to estimate the collectible value of the chips, find out their circulation, place of issue and other parameters? Here you cannot do without collectors' clubs and various specialized sites and forums, with the help of which you can find out various information on certain chips, buy, sell or exchange casino chips.

It should also be said that collecting casino chips is a rather expensive hobby. Indeed, on average, the cost of one copy costs the collector about $ 5. And if you need to collect chips from different continents, a pretty impressive amount will come out.

But since the players are mainly engaged in collecting, they are ready to spend a lot of money for their memories. After all, memories, especially if they are pleasant, should not be evaluated in monetary terms.

Casino chips are not as simple as they might seem at first glance. They are a kind of analogue of money. The fact is that you can buy chips at the casino cash desk at par, where you can exchange the chips for money. This means that a $ 100 casino chip on the territory of the casino is essentially the same one hundred dollars. But how do casino owners protect themselves from counterfeit chips, is it not so difficult to create exact copies of them and exchange them for money?
There are secrets here. While online casino volcano manages with electronic money, real chips are quite interesting and even advanced gizmos. Still, such a value!

The first legal gambling house appeared in 1626 in Venice, chips were not used for more than 200 years. Until the 19th century, various objects were used as chips in casinos: coins, gold dust, values. Then the first independent chips began to appear, they were made of ivory, paper, clay, valuable wood species. However, by the early 20th century, most of the world's casinos had switched to special clay chips. Meanwhile, electronic slot machines are free, for example, free slots from Novomatic Gaminator. Today, chips are made from a mixture of clay, cellowoid ​​and other materials, and each casino keeps the exact recipe for their chips in the strictest confidence - they were afraid of fakes. In order to make them a complex object for fakes, chips are decorated with complex drawings, dyed in a cunning way, and so on.

Due to the fact that metal or simple plastic was abandoned in the production of chips, counterfeiting them became a real problem for crooks and scammers. After all, the denomination of chips can reach not only $ 100, but $ 1000, $ 10,000 and even $ 50,000! Even in online casinos, slot machines such as http://vulkannet.com/gaminator-novomatic/king-of-cards/ give a maximum win rate of 9000 times. And this is already serious money, it would be much more difficult to counterfeit banknotes for such an amount. In addition, the chips have several degrees of protection, such as labels visible only in ultraviolet light, and even radio chips!

Large-denomination chips (from $ 25 thousand) are of a larger size and are called plaki. Plaks have serial numbers and recently they began to embed special identifiers based on RFID radio chips. This allows you to track all the movements of expensive chips right in real time, while the central computer of the casino knows exactly where each of the large-denomination chips is at the moment and excludes the appearance of unnecessary fake chips in the system. Even if attackers manage to forge a chip in such a way that it will have the same radio chip and it will be recognized by the system as its own, the computer will immediately see that there is another such chip and the security service will immediately respond. Perfect system!

First of all, when it comes to cash, a chip should have its face value, i.e. how much it costs in a particular currency. Often, the sign of the currency itself is also indicated. The next item is the name of the gambling establishment itself and (or) its logo. The location of the casino is also sometimes indicated. For example, here is a chip from Moscow "Beverly Hills", where there is a denomination, name and place:

Some chip manufacturers leave their own marks - a small logo. For example, Bourgogne Et Grasset often uses its trademark "BG". In addition to basic information, the chips can contain anything. This is the year the chip was released, the name of the event, and just an interesting picture. For example, chips depicting animals, fruits, cars, cities, famous people, cartoon and movie characters, historical buildings, and so on.

I have a chip that came to me at random. But I don't know which casino she is from. How can I determine this?

First, I recommend comparing the chip with those presented on this site. To do this, type the name of the casino in the "Search". You can also send a scanned picture to me by e-mail. If I recognize this chip, I will give all the information that I know about it.

My chip does not have the casino name written on it. What do i do?

Recently, I have received many requests to identify the chips used in poker sets (mostly made in China). The design changes slightly, but they look something like this:

As you can see from the picture, the chip lacks the main attribute of the cash used in the casino - the name of the gambling establishment. Sometimes words like “Poker”, “Las Vegas” or “Monte Carlo” are written on the poker chip. Often the denomination is not indicated on such chips. Apart from poker chips, roulette chips often do not carry any information about the casino in which they are used. They also have no denomination. Roulette chips are made of a light uniform material with inserts of a different color. Like these ones:

I definitely have a casino chip, it has a name on it and the equivalent of 1000 is written, I assume that it is dollars.

If the chip is really from a casino and has a face value of 1000, then it is most likely rubles or another currency that is not at all equal to dollars. The fact is that in casinos, chips of high value (from $ 500 and above), as a rule, are made in the form of a large plexus in size and rectangular in shape. For example, these are:

The casino administration carefully monitors the circulation of high-denomination chips within its walls and does not allow them to leave the gambling establishment. If you want to leave a chip for the collection, for example, $ 1000, then you will most likely be denied this and asked to exchange it for money. Even if you want to take it away secretly, due to the above tracking, you may be stopped at the exit and asked to see if you forgot to cash your chips.

Will I be able to exchange a chip that came to me for money?

If the casino is still operating, then yes, the chip can be changed at the cash desk according to its equivalent. At the same time, in reputable establishments, you can even change the chips that were out of circulation, but were previously used in this casino.

I have a lot of chips from the closed casino. Can I exchange them for money somewhere?

No. After the casino closes, the chips must be disposed of. Sometimes this is not done, but, in any case, no one will pay for these chips at their denominations. You can benefit from either selling to collectors or using these chips for home games such as poker.

How do I rate a chip I have?

First, you should go to the online auction and see how much the chips are worth. You can try putting your chip up for auction at whatever price you deem acceptable. Leading auction featuring thousands of chips: eBay.com

In English-language sources, when it comes to chips, the concept of chip and check is encountered - what's the difference?

A "chip" is originally a non-denomination chip used when playing roulette. A "check" is a chip with a face value, cash. However, even in the United States, any chips are now increasingly called chips.

Why are there chips on the site that are shown in two versions, both are the same, but one of them is inverted?

Some chips have the same pattern on both sides. In order not to duplicate it completely, I at least turn the picture over.

How much does a token collection cost?

Everything is very subjective. I remember a collection of 15,000 Nevada chips from the 1950s was on sale at an auction. The initial cost is $ 2 million. Considering the age of the chips and their number, as well as the scale of collecting chips in the United States, I will assume that there are buyers for this collection. I have over 5,000 chips in my collection and it is valued at over $ 100,000.

If you did not find the answer to your question, you can contact me by e-mail:

Casino chips (also known as tokens, tokens, chips, or chips) are small discs that are used in online casino for money instead of currency. Made of non-ferrous metal, plastic or clay chips of various shapes are mainly used in board games, as opposed to metal token coins that are used in slot machines. Casino chips are also widely used as play money in home and tournament games.

Some casinos also use rectangular plaques for high value table games ($ 25,000 and up). Plaques differ from tokens in that they are larger and usually rectangular in shape and contain serial numbers.

Using casino chips

Injection molded sets of 100, 50, 25 and 10 ABS poker chips can be exchanged for cash at the casino cashier to be used at the gaming tables. The cost of the chips fully corresponds to the nominal value of the paid amount of money at the cash desk. As a rule, they have no value outside the casino, but in some gambling cities they can be used informally to pay for services (for example, in a taxi or as a tip to waiters).

Marking is used for several reasons. Because of the same size, shape and pattern of stacks of chips, they are easier to count than currency. It also allows the pit boss or security to quickly check the chip count and also reduces the likelihood that the dealer will pay the casino customer incorrectly. The even weight of official casino chips allows them to weigh large stacks or heaps of chips rather than counting them (although tools such as trays of chips are much more common). In addition, it should be noted that consumers are much more free to dispose of currency exchange than cash. Finally, chips are an integral part of the casino environment, and replacing them with alternative currencies will not be popular.

Many casinos have eliminated the use of metal tokens (and coins) in their slot machines in favor of paper checks or prepaid cards because the use of tokens requires high infrastructure costs. This eliminates the cost of sorting coins, eliminates problems with machines that accepted coins or tokens, and also eliminates gaming technology in machines that are responsible for accepting coins. Some casinos (such as the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas) have receipt systems used as $ 1 chips, which are used by most other casinos. Most casinos have automated receipt machines in which customers can redeem receipts and eliminates the need for coin counting, which reduces labor costs.

Standard sets of 300 pieces of plastic chips are often sold as collectible casino chip sets for the numismatic hobbyist. This hobby is becoming more and more popular thanks to the emergence of the Casino Chips & Gaming Tokens Collectors Club in 1988. Some chips are worth up to $ 100,000 on the most popular buying and trading platform, eBuy. Some casinos also sell decks of cards with the casino name stamped on them.

History

While the first legal gambling house was established in 1626 in Venice, poker chips like those currently used in poker have not been used for over 200 years. In the 19th century and earlier, poker players used small items of value. Even earlier, poker players sometimes used uneven pieces of gold, gold nuggets, gold dust or coins, and "chips" were made primarily from ivory, bone, wood, paper, and a mixture of clay and shellac.

Several companies between the 1880s and the late 1930s created a special clay mixture for poker chips. There were over 1000 designs to choose from. Most of the chips were white, red, blue and yellow, but they could be made in almost any color you wanted.

Design

The vast majority of casino chips are pressed clay chips. Contrary to popular belief, game chips weren't 100% clay back in the 1950s. The modern composition of clay chips is made of more durable materials than clay only. Chips contain at least a few percent of earthy material such as sand, chalk, and clay, similar to that used in cat litter boxes. The composition used to make the chips is a trade secret and varies slightly depending on the manufacturer, the cost and labor intensity of making the chip. Spots around the edges or inserts are painted; to achieve this effect, this area of ​​clay is removed and then replaced with clay of a different color; this can be done with each chip individually, or at the chip block, where the chips are cut in a cylindrical block to insert colored stripes. In each chip, if desired, a decor can be made in the middle, which is placed in a special mold, in which each fish is heated and compressed at a temperature of 149 ° C), hence the term pressed chips.

The graphics printed on clay chips are called decor. The inlays are usually made of paper and then overlaid with plastic wrap, which is applied to the chips prior to the compression molding process. During the forming process, the decor is attached to the chip and cannot be removed from the chip without destroying it.

Ceramic chips were introduced in the mid-1980s as an alternative to clay chips and are also used in casinos. The ability to print lettering and graphics across the entire surface of a chip has become very popular. Ceramic chips are sometimes also called clay or clay composite, but they are actually injection molded with a special plastic or resin formula that brings the feel and sound closer to ceramic or porcelain. There are less expensive chips for the domestic market, made of various plastic shapes and also plated with metal.

Chips used in North American casinos usually weigh around 10 grams, but typically between 8 and 10.5 grams. Chips for real casinos are produced by such companies as Gaming Partners International, Paulson, NevadaJacks Manufacturing Co, American standard Moldin, Blue Chip Company, Palm Gaming International and CHIPCO. Paulson, BCC, and ASM make clay chips, and CHIPCO make ceramic chips. NevadaJacks uses a ceramic chip sublimation process. Palm Gaming International acquired the assets of the now defunct CHIPCO in January 2013.

Colors

There is no one-size-fits-all standardized color scheme for different poker chip denominations, and schemes differ not only nationally and regionally, but even by location of the game or by type of event in the same place.

The colors of tokens for home sets usually include red, white, blue, and sometimes green and black. Recently, however, a wide variety of colors have become readily available, particularly in cheaper ABS plastic chips. Common complementary colors are pink, purple, yellow, orange, and gray. Newer designs for home kits include tri-color designs, where the chips are created by a three-step molding process. With regard to the possible wishes of the buyer, the various colors vary widely from less traditional colors for very high denominations such as $ 500, $ 1000, $ 5000 and so on, common in tournaments, to special "fractional" denominations such as $ 2 or $ 0.50, common in low limits.

In casinos, uniform chip colors and sizes are sometimes dictated by the local gambling authority. For example, rules in New Jersey and Illinois specify uniform colors for chips. Notably, Nevada has no color-related rules, so Nevada casinos can use white, blue, or gray for $ 1 chips, although for $ 5 or more chips, the colors are almost always the same for all casinos. All states in the United States where gambling is legal require casino chips to have a unique combination of edge spots for identification, the casino name, city and chip value, if any, printed or formed on the front and back of the chip.

The $ 2.50 chips are mostly used at blackjack tables, as "naturally" (21 on the first two cards dealt to the player) the pay is 3: 2 and most bets are in $ 5 increments. However, Tropicana Casino and Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey, among others, use $ 2.50 (pink) chips in poker games for bets ranging from $ 7.50 to $ 15 and $ 10 to $ 20.

The $ 20 chips are mainly used in Baccarat and Pai Gow poker, so a 5% commission is charged on all baccarat wins and all winning bets on Pai Gow. 20 bets are not uncommon in traditional table games like craps and roulette.

Since eight is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture, chips in denominations of 8, 88, and (for example, $ 8 in the US) are common in casinos serving Chinese clientele, and often as a promotion for the Chinese Lunar New Year. They sometimes have an image of an animal associated with that year and come in a variety of colors.

Low-denomination yellow chips also differ in value: $ 20 in Atlantic City and Illinois (which also uses a mustard color for $ 0.50 chips); $ 5 at most poker clubs in Southern California; $ 2 at Running Aces Harness Park and Canterbury Park, both in Minnesota and Casino del Sol in Tucson, Arizona; $ 0.50 at Potawatomi Casino Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Blue chips are sometimes used for $ 10, primarily in Atlantic City. In Las Vegas and California, most casinos use blue or white for $ 1 chips, although many Las Vegas casinos now use metal tokens instead of $ 1 chips.

Chips in denominations of $ 1000 or more are also available, depending on the casino's betting limits. These chips are often orange or yellow in color. Casinos in Nevada, Atlantic City, and other areas that allow high stakes usually have chips in denominations of $ 5,000, $ 10,000, $ 25,000 or more; the colors for them vary greatly.

The denomination above $ 5000 is almost never found in games for the general public, their use is usually limited to high-limit poker rooms, where the bet sizes are much higher than on the first floor of the casino. Casinos often use game plaques for these denominations: these plaques are the size of a playing card and must be marked with serial numbers. The highest chip value that can be found today is $ 10 million - this chip is used at the London Club in Las Vegas.

Television poker tournaments and cash games are sometimes used for paper checks for high denominations, while the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour only use round chips for denominations up to $ 250,000, these tournament chips, however, cannot be redeemed for cash ...

European casinos use a similar scheme, although certain places, such as the Aviation Club de France, use pink for € 2 chips and blue for € 10. European casinos also use plaques instead of chips for high denominations such as € 1000 and higher.

Security

Each casino has a unique set of chips, even if the casino is part of a large company. This distinguishes casino chips from others, as each chip must be backed up by a corresponding amount of cash on the gaming floor. Also, with the exception of Nevada, casinos are not allowed to use chips from other casinos.

The security features of casino chips are numerous. The picture is made in very high resolution and in good quality. Custom chip color combinations (edge ​​spots) are usually a distinctive feature of a particular casino. UV marking can be done in the tab. Some chips use RFID technology, for example, at the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas. In addition, the token signs are very difficult to reproduce. Also, one of the manufacturers (PalmGaming) includes a sound component in the ceramic chip blank. A simple handheld reader beeps if the game token is genuine. PalmGaming even custom molds their ceramic chips, adding another high level of security to their gaming chips.

Fake chips are rare. The high level of surveillance, along with the staff's exceptional knowledge of chips and coloration, makes counterfeit chips difficult to use. Although casinos are ready for such a situation. All states require casinos to have a backup chipset with alternate markings, although they are not required to have exactly the same number of backup chips as in a gambling hall. The most famous example of chip counterfeiting was exposed in 2005 when two men were caught using counterfeit $ 1 chips.

Casino chips used in tournaments are generally much cheaper and much simpler in design. Since these chips have no real cash equivalent, they are usually designed in one color and smaller width. However, for certain events (like the World Series of Poker or other TV poker), better chips are used.

Variations

Several casinos, such as the Hard Rock Hotel and Las Vegas casinos, provide limited editions of various designed tokens dedicated to different events, although the overall color scheme remains the same. This encourages customers to buy them for souvenirs, which is lucrative for the casino.

Some casinos, such as Wynn and Encore Las Vegas casinos, have RFID tags embedded in the chips, which helps casinos to better track them and determine the average bets of gamblers, and these chips are more difficult to counterfeit to fraudsters. However, this method is costly and considered by many to reduce profits.

In television

The first game in the show to use chips was Duel, where contestants answered questions using oversized casino tokens. The World Series of Poker used to actually use its casino chips for poker tournaments, but clay sets have been developed specifically for WSOP events in recent years.

It is not difficult to play slot machines for chips. Just go to the Slotosfera gambling portal and play as much as you like, and you don't even need to register. Provided free (bonus) chips in the amount of 1000 pieces are issued without any requirements or obligations, they are not subject to any exchange for real funds. In all the slot machines presented below, you can play on virtual candy wrappers, for this you just need to click on the slot you like and it will start immediately.

Free chips game - the excitement is always with you

The number of free chips is initially equal to 1001 pieces. and this number is stored in cookies on your computer, further changes to this number will be saved there. Considering this, it should be understood that if your computer has updated cookies (when reinstalling the system, cleaning the computer with cleaners, etc.), then the next time you enter the game, this number will again be equal to 1001 pieces. Simply put, the number of virtual candy wrappers is not limited, even if you run out of credits, you just need to restart the slot and that's it - the entire balance will return to its original state. A separate plus of free games for stars is that this type of gambling does not harm your budget and you can play anywhere and anytime, modern technology development allows you to do this even from a mobile phone and tablet, what can we say about laptops. Agree to pass the time pleasantly while on the road spinning the reels of your favorite slot.

Free (bonus) chips are issued in order to be able to play free online slot machines at Slotosfera.com. Free games are provided to users for review and for choosing the most interesting game. Having chosen the game you like, you may like to try your luck for real money, for this you need to choose a casino gaming hall, each of which is tested for the level of honesty and payouts. Enjoy your game and good bets!

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