Collecting Casino Chips
Casino tokens, also commonly called casino chips, are small discs used in lieu of currency in casinos. Colored metal or compression molded clay tokens of various denominations are used primarily in table games, as opposed to metal token coins, used primarily in slot machines. Casino tokens are also widely used as play money in casual or tournament games.
Money is exchanged for tokens in a casino at the casino cage, at the gaming tables, or at a cashier station. The tokens are interchangeable with money at the casino. They generally have no value outside of the casino, though in Las Vegas, some casinos might honor chips from other casinos.
Tokens are employed for several reasons. They are more convenient to use than currency, and also make theft and counterfeiting more difficult. Because of the uniform size and regularity of stacks of chips, they are easier to count in stacks compared to paper currency when used on a table. This attribute also enables the pit boss or security to quickly verify the amount being paid, reducing the chance that a dealer might incorrectly pay a customer. The uniform weight of the casino's official tokens allows them to weigh large stacks or piles of chips rather than counting them (though counting aids such as chip trays are far more common) Furthermore, it is observed that consumers gamble more freely with replacement currencies than with cash.
Finally, the chips are considered to be an integral part of the casino environment, and replacing them with some alternate currency would be unpopular.
Many casinos are eliminating the use of metal tokens (and coins) in favor of paper receipts and/or pre-paid cards, which, while requiring heavy infrastructure costs to install, eliminate the coin handling expenses and jamming problems encountered in machines which take coins or tokens. While some casinos (such as the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas) which install the receipt system are keeping the $1 tokens to use in place of $1 chips, most other casinos using the receipts are scrapping the tokens entirely. Most casinos using receipts have automated machines at which customers may redeem receipts, eliminating the need for coin counting windows and decreasing labor costs.
Casino chip collecting is a variety of exonumia, or coin collecting. Before it became a more serious hobby, casino chip collecting was simply a case of people keeping them as souvenirs from a casino they may visit. The biggest boost to the hobby came with the creation of the online auction site eBay. Ebay has now become the most popular way to collect and trade casino chips with listings in the casino category regularly including over 20,000 items for sale.
Casino chip collecting became increasingly popular beginning in 1988, with the establishment of the Casino Chip & Gaming Tokens Collectors Club. The club was formed after it was realized how popular the hobby had become and how many people were involved in it. The club held its first annual convention at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino in 1992. The convention still runs to this day and in 2010 has been held at the South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa.
As the number of collectors grew, the demand for an official grading system as one was necessary to determine the value of the chips. In 2003, members of the CC>CC agreed on a grading system that would be used worldwide. There are two published price guides widely used by casino chip collectors. The Official U.S. Casino Chip Price Guide, now in its 4th edition covers chips from casinos in Nevada, Atlantic City, NJ, Colorado, Deadwood, SD and various riverboat casinos. The Chip Rack, now in its 11th edition, attempts to include all chips and checks issued by casinos in the State of Nevada. Some chips are considered high-value and some worth up to $40,000. The largest recorded sale for a casino chip to date is $39,000.