Behind the Casino
Casino chips are by no means modern inventions.
Casino chips are available to all players, not just high-stakes gamers.
They are also used in various table games, including blackjack, roulette, and baccarat.
These casino chips can only be used inside the casino where they are sold to you.
Patrons are allowed to take their casino chips home.
But you cannot trade your casino chips at other casinos.
Purpose of Casino Chips
The primary purpose of casino chips is forsecurity.
It ensures that no player can simply swipe their money off a table and escape.
They would have to go to the cashier’s desk to turn the chips into legal tender.
Plus, modern casino chips are traceable and casinos can monitor their movement.
If a player tries to steal money from another player, detecting the theft would be much harder.
The casino chips mitigate the dangers.
The other main purpose is to make it easier forhigh rollersto count their money quickly.
Casinos colour code their chips, to make it easy to count how much money is in play.
And transparency is needed where money is concerned, especially at table games.
Think of a game of poker, where players call or raise using casino chips.
Or at roulette, where players have to place their chips on the paytables.
How Casino Chips Are Made
Most casinos use compression moulded chips, manufactured using composite materials.
Historically, they were made either from clay or ceramic, but nowadays, casinos use composites.
Each casino has its own process for creating casino chips, which is confidential and quite time-consuming.
Casinos need durable chips, which can be inlaid with printed graphics or moulds.
Chips in the US casinos generally weigh around 10 grams each.
As for colours, each casino has its own special graph and colour scheme to represent different denominations.
Chips represent anything from $1 up to $5,000, or even higher in certain locations.
Local gaming control boards may regulate the chip colours and sizes to maintain some consistency.
Some casinos create unique denominations.
Several US casinos offer these combinations as 8 is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture.
Technological Features of Casino Chips
Don’t think of casino chips as simple ceramic or composite discs.
Nowadays, they also haveelectronic radio-frequency identification tagsto make them easier for the casino to track.
It is far harder nowadays to pull off the con, and casinos can detect fraud very quickly.
Security Measures and Precautions
This security also helps detect whenplayers steal chips from other players.
But the casino staff will notice.
If the perpetrator reaches the cashier’s desk, the staff will surely catch them.
But lets say they ran off home with the chips, to return at a later date.
At some point, the victim will realize that they are short a few chips.
They notify the casino, and the casino will be able to trace the perpetrator.
The casino then either recycles them to create new chips or destroys them completely.
Casinos monitor their chips constantly, and they are quick to remove any damaged chips.
As a patron, you don’t want to use dirty or damaged chips.
Digitalization of Casino Chips
The transition tocashless and digitalized solutionsdirectly affects casinos.
Brick-and-mortar casinos have to reimagine the way their patrons use their gaming products.
No, it also relates to anyloyalty programs or bonus initiativesthat landbased casinos can offer.
This is one of the biggest pulls of online casinos.
Online casinos can quite easily just gift you a bonus and put it in your gaming account.
Physical gaming venues can’t efficiently just give you bonus chips or coupons.
That way, it’s possible for you to enjoy the best of both worlds.
You get the real casino atmosphere while snapping up bonuses and comp points.
Just as you would at the physical casino’s online counterpart.
Casino chips are certainly a part of the vision.
You will no doubt still find casinos providing physical chips in the years to come.
Daniel has been writing about casinos and sports betting since 2021.
