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Casino tokens (also known as casino or gaming chips, checks, or cheques) are small discs used in lieu of currency in casinos. Colored metal, injection-molded plastic 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.
Some casinos also use rectangular gaming plaques for high-stakes table games ($25,000 and above). Plaques differ from chips in that they are larger, usually rectangular in shape and contain serial numbers.
- 3Construction
Use[edit]
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. Generally they have no value outside of the casino, but certain businesses (such as taxis or waiters—especially for tips) in gambling towns may honor them informally.
Tokens are employed for several reasons. Because of the uniform size, shape, and patterns of stacks of chips, they are easier to tally compared to currency. 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 great stacks or heaps of chips rather than tally them (though aids such as chip trays are far more common.) Furthermore, it is observed that consumers gamble more freely with replacement currencies than with cash.[citation needed] A more pragmatic reason for casinos using chips in place of cash at table games is to discourage players from grabbing back their bet and attempting to flee should their bet not win, because chips, unlike cash, must be redeemed at the casino cashier and have no value outside the casino in question. Lastly, the chips are considered to be an integral part of the casino environment, and replacing them with some alternate currency would be unpopular[dubious].
Many casinos have eliminated the use of metal tokens (and coins) in their slot machines, in favor of paper receipts or pre-paid cards, which, while requiring heavy infrastructure costs to install, eliminate the coin handling expenses, jamming problems encountered in machines which took coins or tokens and can allow more game-specific technology in the space of a machine which would usually be dedicated to coin mechanisms. While some casinos (such as the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas) which installed the receipt system had kept the $1 tokens around for use as $1 chips, most other casinos using the receipts had simply scrapped 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 part of numismatics, more specifically as specialized exonumia collecting. This hobby has become increasingly popular with the Casino Chips & Gaming Tokens Collectors Club formed in 1988. Some collectors may value certain casino tokens up to $100,000, which are typically traded on online auction websites like eBay. Several casinos sell custom-made sets of chips and one or two decks of cards stamped with the name of the casino on them. Each set is contained in a small briefcase or box.
History[edit]
The ancestors of the modern casino token were the counters used to keep score in the card games Ombre and Quadrille. In 1752, French Quadrille sets contained a number of different counters, known as jetons, fiches and mils. Unlike modern poker chips, they were colored differently only to determine player ownership for purposes of settling payments at the end of the game, with different denominations differentiated by different shapes that each counter type had.[1]
In the early history of Poker during the 19th century, players seemed to use any small valuable object imaginable. Early poker players sometimes used jagged gold pieces, gold nuggets, gold dust, or coins as well as 'chips' primarily made of ivory, bone, wood, paper, and a composition made from clay and shellac. Several companies between the 1880s and the late 1930s made clay composition poker chips. There were over 1000 designs from which to choose. Most chips were white, red, blue, and yellow, but they could be made in almost any color desired.
Construction[edit]
The vast majority of authentic casino chips are 'clay' chips but can be more accurately described as compression molded chips. Contrary to popular belief, no gaming chip going as far back as the 1950s has been 100% clay. Modern clay chips are a composition of materials more durable than clay alone. At least some percentage of the chips is of an earthen material such as sand, chalk, and clay similar to that found in cat litter. The process used to make these chips is a trade secret, and varies slightly by manufacturer, most being relatively expensive and time-consuming per chip. The edge spots, or inserts, are not painted on; to achieve this effect, this area of the clay is removed and then replaced with clay of a different color; this can be done to each chip individually or a strip can be taken out of a cylindrical block of material and replaced with the alternate color before the block is cut into chips. Then each chip receives a mid-inlay if desired, and is placed in a special mold that heats and compresses the chip at approximately 10,000 psi (70 MPa) at 300 °F (150 °C), hence the term compression molded chips.
The printed graphics on clay chips is called an inlay. Inlays are typically made of paper and are then clad with a plastic film applied to the chip prior to the compression molding process. During the molding process the inlay becomes permanently fastened to the chip and can not be removed from the chip without destroying the inlay.
Ceramic chips were introduced in the mid 1980s as alternative to clay chips, and are also used in casinos, as well as being readily available to the home market. The ability to print lettering and graphics on the entire surface of the chip, instead of just the inlay, made them popular. Ceramic chips are sometimes also referred to as clay or clay composite, but they are in fact an injection-molded chip made with a special plastic or resin formula that approximates the feel and sound of ceramic or porcelain. There are less expensive chips for the home market, made from various forms of plastic and plastic covered metal slugs as well.
The chips used in North American casinos typically weigh about 10 grams, but are usually between 8 and 10.5 g. Companies that manufacture chips for actual casinos include Gaming Partners International (whose subdivisions include Paulson, Bud Jones, and B&G), Classic Poker Chips, Palm Gaming International, Game On Chip Company and GTI Gaming.
Colors[edit]
There is no universally standardized color scheme for poker chip values, and schemes not only vary nationally and regionally, but even from venue to venue, or by event type within a single venue.
Chip colors found in home sets typically include red, white, blue, and sometimes green and black; however, more recently a wide assortment of colors have become readily available, particularly in lower-cost ABS plastic chips. Common additional colors are pink, purple, yellow, orange, and grey. Newer designs in home chips include three-color designs where a three-step molding process creates a chip with unique base, secondary, and detail colors. As chip sets are tailored to the buyer, the values of various colors vary widely, with less traditional colors either used as very high values such as $500, $1,000, $5,000, and so forth, common in tournaments, or as special 'fractional' values such as $2 or $0.50, common in low-limit games.
In casinos, uniform chip colors and sizes are sometimes specified by the local gaming control board for consistency. For example, regulations in New Jersey[2] and Illinois[3] specify similar uniform colors. Notably, Nevada has no regulations regarding color, which is why Nevada casinos may use white, blue, or gray as $1, though $5 and greater are almost always consistently colored. All US states where gambling is legal require that casino chips have a unique combination of edge spots for identification, the name and location of the casino and the chip's value, if any, impressed, printed, or molded onto the obverse and reverse of the token.
In 19th-century America, there was enough of a tradition of using blue chips for higher values that 'blue chip' in noun and adjective senses signaling high-value chips and high-value property are attested since 1873 and 1894, respectively.[4] This established connotation was first extended to the sense of a blue-chip stock in the 1920s.[5]
$2.50 chips (colloquially referred to as 'snappers' by chip collectors) are mostly used for blackjack tables, since a 'natural' (a 21 on the first two cards dealt to a player) typically pays 3:2 and most wagers are in increments of $5. However, the Tropicana Casino and Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and others, have used $2.50 (pink) chips in $7.50 to $15 and $10 to $20 poker games.
$20 chips are used mostly at baccarat and pai gow poker because a 5% commission charged for all winning banker wagers at baccarat and winning wagers at pai gow converts evenly. Bets of $20 are not uncommon in traditional table games such as craps and roulette; a $20 chip, for example, places a $5 bet on each of the 'hard ways' in craps and is preferable to passing a stack of chips or making change.
Because eight is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture, chips denominated 8, 88, and 888 (e.g., $8 in the US) are common in casinos catering to a Chinese clientele, often as a promotion for the Chinese Lunar New Year. They will sometimes contain an image of the animal associated with the year and are issued in a variety of colors.
Low-denomination yellow chips vary in value: $20 in Atlantic City and Illinois (which also uses 'mustard yellow' $0.50 chips); $5 at most Southern California poker rooms; $2 at Foxwoods' poker room in Ledyard, Connecticut; Running Aces Harness Park and Canterbury Park, both in Minnesota; and at Casino del Sol in Tucson, Arizona; and $0.50 at Potawatomi Casino in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Blue chips are occasionally used for $10, most notably in Atlantic City. In Las Vegas and California, most casinos use blue or white for $1 chips, though many Las Vegas casinos now use $1 metal tokens in lieu of chips.
Chips are also available in denominations of $1000 or more, depending on the wagering limits of the casino. Such chips are often yellow or orange.[clarification needed]. Casinos in Nevada, Atlantic City, and other areas that permit high wagers typically have chips available in $5000, $10,000, $25,000, and more; the colors for these vary widely.
Denominations above $5000 are almost never encountered by the general public; their use is usually limited to 'high limit rooms' where bet sizes are much greater than on the main floor. Casinos often use gaming plaques for these denominations: These plaques are about the size of a playing card, and must be marked with serial numbers. The greatest value placed on a plaque to date is $10 million, used at the London Club in Las Vegas.[6]
Televised poker tournaments and cash games sometimes use bundled paper bills for high denominations, though the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour use round chips exclusively with denominations up to $250,000; tournament chips, however, are not redeemable for cash.
European casinos use a similar scheme, though certain venues, such as the Aviation Club de France, use pink for €2 and blue for €10. European casinos also use plaques rather than chips for high denominations, usually in the €1000 and higher range.
Security[edit]
Each casino has a unique set of chips, even if the casino is part of a greater company. This distinguishes a casino's chips from others, since each chip and token on the gaming floor has to be backed up with the appropriate amount of cash. In addition, with the exception of Nevada, casinos are not permitted to honor another casino's chips.
The security features of casino chips are numerous. Artwork is of a very high resolution or of photographic quality. Custom color combinations on the chip edge (edge spots) are usually distinctive to a particular casino. UV markings can be made on the inlay. Certain chips incorporate RFID technology, such as those at the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas. Also, makers' marks are difficult to reproduce. Also being used by one manufacturer, Palm Gaming, is an audible taggant incorporated into the ceramic chip blank. A simple handheld reader will beep if the gaming chip is authentic. Palm Gaming is even manufacturing custom made molds for their ceramic gaming chips- adding yet another high level of security to its gaming chip.
Counterfeit chips are rare. High levels of surveillance, along with staff familiarity with chip design and coloring, make passing fake chips difficult. Casinos, though, are prepared for this situation. All states require that casinos have a set of chips in reserve with alternate markings,[citation needed] though they may not be required to have exactly the same number of reserve chips as they do on the floor. The most notable instance of counterfeiting chips was broken up in 2005, when two men were caught falsely converting $1 chips into higher denominations.[7]
Casino chips used in tournaments are usually much cheaper and of much simpler design. Because the chips have no cash value, usually chips are designed with a single color (usually differing in shade or tone from the version on the casino floor), a smaller breadth, and a basic mark on the interior to distinguish denominations; however, at certain events (such as the World Series of Poker or other televised poker), chips approach quality levels of chips on the floor.
Variations[edit]
Several casinos, such as the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, issue 'limited edition' varied-designed chips, commemorating various events, though retaining a common color scheme. This encourages customers to keep them for souvenirs, at a profit to the casino.
In certain casinos, such as the Wynn and Encore Casinos in Las Vegas, chips are embedded with RFID tags to help casinos keep better track of them, determine gamblers' average bet sizes, and to make them harder for counterfeiters to reproduce. However, this technique is costly and considered by many to be unnecessary to profit. Also, this technology provides minimal benefits in games with layouts that do not provide gamblers with their own designated betting areas, such as craps.
In television[edit]
The first game show to use them, Duel, had a variation in which the contestants answer questions using oversized casino tokens. The World Series of Poker at one time actually used its casino tokens for the poker tournaments, but in more recent years has had special Paulson WSOP clay sets made for the tournaments.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^David Parlett. 'Quadrille and Médiateur: Courtly ladies' game of 18th-century France'. Retrieved 28 January 2009.
- ^'New Jersey Casino Control Commission – Chapter 46. Gaming Equipment'. state.nj.us. 2006-07-30. Archived from the original on 2006-07-30. Retrieved 2019-09-17.
- ^'Section 3000.625 Chip Specifications'. ilga.gov. 2017-01-23. Archived from the original on 2017-01-23. Retrieved 2019-09-18.
- ^Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, Merriam-Webster.
- ^Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam-Webster.
- ^'The London Club's $10 Million Gaming 'Plaque' Raises the Bar for Las Vegas'. Business Wire. 2000-08-14. Archived from the original on October 10, 2014.
- ^'Counterfeit Chip Ring Broken Up in Vegas'. Vegas Tripping.
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In numismatics, token coins or trade tokens are coin-like objects used instead of coins. The field of token coins is part of exonumia and token coins are token money. Tokens have a denomination either shown or implied by size, color or shape. 'Tokens' are often made of cheaper metals: copper, pewter, aluminium, brass and tin were commonly used, while bakelite, leather, porcelain, and other less durable materials are also known.[citation needed]
No Slot With A Token Was Found Today
A key point of difference between a token coin and a legal tender coin is that the latter is issued by a governmental authority and is freely exchangeable for goods. However, a token coin typically has a much more limited use and is often issued by a private company, group, association or individual. In the case of 'currency tokens' issued by a company but also recognized by the state there is a convergence between tokens and currency.[citation needed]
Currency tokens[edit]
Currency tokens issued by a company sometimes ceased to be merely 'trade' tokens when they were sanctioned by a local government authority: perhaps due to a severe shortage of money or the government's inability to issue its own coinage. In effect, the organization behind the tokens became the regional bank.
A classic example of this is the Strachan and Co trade tokens of East Griqualand in South Africa, which were used as currency by the indigenous people in the region from 1874. Their initial success resulted from the scarcity of small change in that remote region at that time.
Similarly, in times of high inflation, tokens have sometimes taken on a currency role. Examples of this are Italian and Israeli telephone tokens, which were always good for the same service (i.e. one phone call) even as prices increased. New York City Subway tokens were also sometimes accepted in trade, or even in parking meters, since they had a set value.
No Slot With A Token Was Found In The World
Trade tokens or barter tokens[edit]
Coin-like objects from the Roman Empire called spintriae have been interpreted as an early form of token. Their functions are not documented, but they appear to have been brothel tokens or possibly gaming tokens.[1]
Medieval English monasteries issued tokens to pay for services from outsiders. These tokens circulated in nearby villages, where they were called 'Abbot's money'. Also, counters called jetons were used as small change without official blessing.[2]
From the 17th to the early 19th century in the British Isles and North America, tokens were commonly issued by merchants in times of acute shortage of coins of the state. These tokens were in effect a pledge redeemable in goods, but not necessarily for currency. These tokens never received official sanction from government but were accepted and circulated quite widely.
In England, the production of copper farthings was permitted by royal licence in the first few decades of the 17th century, but production ceased during the English Civil War and a great shortage of small change resulted. This shortage was felt more keenly because of the rapid growth of trade in the towns and cities, and this in turn prompted both local authorities and merchants to issue tokens.
These tokens were most commonly made of copper or brass, but pewter, lead and occasionally leather tokens are also found. Most were not given a specific denomination and were intended to substitute for farthings, but there are also a large number of halfpenny and sometimes penny tokens. Halfpenny and penny tokens usually, but not always, bear the denomination on their face.
Most such tokens show the issuer's full name or initials. Where initials were shown, it was common practice to show three initials: the first names of husband and wife and their surname. Tokens would also normally indicate the merchant establishment, either by name or by picture. Most were round, but they are also found in square, heart or octagonal shapes.
Thousands of towns and merchants issued these tokens from 1648 until 1672, when official production of farthings resumed, and private production was suppressed.
There were again coin shortages in the late 18th century, when the British Royal Mint almost ceased production. Merchants once again produced tokens, but they were now machine made and typically larger than their 17th century predecessors, with values of a halfpenny or more. While many were used in trade, they were also produced for advertising and political purposes, and some series were produced for the primary purpose of sale to collectors. These tokens are usually known as Conder tokens, after the writer of the first reference book on them.
These were issued by merchants in payment for goods with the agreement that they would be redeemed in goods to an equivalent value at the merchants' own outlets. The transaction is therefore one of barter, with the tokens playing a role of convenience, allowing the seller to receive his goods at a rate and time convenient to himself, and the merchant to tie the holder of the token coin to his shop. Trade tokens often gradually changed into barter tokens, as evidenced by the continued circulation of former trade tokens when the need for their use had passed.
In the United States of America Hard times tokens issued from 1832 to 1844 and Civil War tokens issued in the 1860s made up for shortages of official money.[3]
Because of weight, the U.S. Treasury Department does not ship coins to the Armed Forces serving overseas, so Army and Air Force Exchange Service officials chose to make pogs in denominations of 5, 10, and 25 cents. The pogs are about 38 mm (1.5816' to be exact) in diameter, and feature various military-themed graphics.
The collecting of trade tokens is part of the field of exonumia, and includes other types of tokens, including transit tokens, encased cents, and many others. In a narrow sense, trade tokens are 'good for' tokens, issued by merchants. Generally, they have a merchant's name or initials, sometimes a town and state, and a value legend (such as 'good for 5¢' or other denomination) somewhere on the token. Merchants that issued tokens included general stores, grocers, department stores, dairies, meat markets, drug stores, saloons, bars, taverns, barbers, coal mines, lumber mills and many other businesses. The era of 1870 through 1920 marked the highest use of 'trade tokens' in the United States, spurred by the proliferation of small stores in rural areas. There were thousands of small general and merchandise stores all over the United States, and many of them used trade tokens to promote trade and extend credit to customers. Aluminum tokens almost always date after 1890, when low-cost production began.
Slot machine tokens[edit]
Metal token coins are used in lieu of cash in some coin-operated arcade games and casinoslot machines.
Money is exchanged for the token coins or chips in a casino at the casino cage, at the gaming tables, or at a slot machine and at a cashier station for slot token coins. The tokens are interchangeable with money at the casino. They generally have no value outside of the casino.
No Slot With A Token Was Found Dead
After the increase in the value of silver stopped the circulation of silver coins around 1964, casinos rushed to find a substitute, as most slot machines at that time used that particular coin. The Nevada State Gaming Control Board consulted with the U.S. Treasury, and casinos were soon allowed to start using their own tokens to operate their slot machines. The Franklin Mint was the main minter of casino tokens at that time.
In 1971, many casinos adopted the Eisenhower Dollar for use in machines and on tables. When the dollar was replaced with the Susan B. Anthony dollar in 1979, most casinos reinstituted tokens, fearing confusion with quarters and not wishing to extensively retool their slot machines. Those casinos which still use tokens in slot machines still use Eisenhower-sized ones.
In many jurisdictions, casinos are not permitted to use currency in slot machines, necessitating tokens for smaller denominations.
Tokens are being phased out by many casinos in favor of coinless machines which accept banknotes and print receipts for payout. (These receipts - often nicknamed 'TITOs' for Ticket-in, ticket-out, can also be inserted into the machines.) In video arcades, they are also being phased out in favor of magnetic cards, which can also count how many tickets one has, allowing arcades to also do away with paper tickets.
Staff tokens[edit]
Staff tokens were issued to staff of businesses in lieu of coins. In the 19th century the argument supporting payment to staff was the shortage of coin in circulation, but in reality employees were forced to spend their wages in the company's stores at highly inflated prices—resulting in an effective dramatic lowering of their actual salary and disposable income.[citation needed]
Other uses[edit]
Railways and public transport agencies used fare tokens for years, to sell rides in advance at a discount, or to allow patrons to use turnstiles geared only to take tokens (as opposed to coins, currency, or fare cards).
- Car washes – Though their use has decreased in favor of coins and credit cards.
- Public telephone booths in countries with unstable currency were usually configured to accept tokens sold by the telephone company for variable prices. This system was in effect in Brazil until 1997 when magnetic cards were introduced. The practice was also recently discontinued in Israel, leading to a trend of wearing the devalued tokens as necklaces.
- Fast foodrestaurants – Often given to children to collect and redeem for prizes.
- Commemorative coins have been produced with no monetary value to distribute by a company, country or organization.
In North America tokens were originally issued by merchants from the 18th century in regions where national or local colonial governments did not issue enough small denomination coins for circulation. They were later used to create a monopoly; to pay labor; for discounts (pay in advance, get something free or discounted); or for a multitude of other reasons. In the United States, a well-known type is the wooden nickel, a five-cent piece distributed by cities to raise money for their anniversaries in the 1940s to 1960s.
Local stores, saloons and mercantiles would issue their own tokens as well, usable only in their own shops. Railways and public transport agencies have used fare tokens for years to sell rides in advance at a discount. Many transport organizations still offer their own tokens for bus and subway services, toll bridges, tunnels, and highways, although the use of computer-readable tickets has replaced these in most areas.
Churches used to give tokens to members passing a religious test prior to the day of communion, then required the token for entry. While mostly Scottish Protestant, some U.S. churches used communion tokens. Generally, these were pewter, often cast by the minister in church-owned molds. Replicas of these tokens have been made available for sale at some churches recently.[when?]
See also[edit]
References and sources[edit]
Dollar Tokens For Slot Machines
- References
- ^Thomas A. McGinn, The Economy of Prostitution in the Roman World (University of Michigan Press, 2004), p. 86.
- ^British Tokens And Their Values, Peter Seaby et al, page 7 of the second edition.
- ^A Guide Book of United States Coins, R. S. Yeoman and Kenneth Bresset, pages 372 and 376 of the 61st edition
- Sources
- 'Church Tokens', New York Times, 11 April 1993
Japanese Slot Machine Tokens
Further reading[edit]
- Angus, Ian. Coins & Money Tokens. London: Ward Lock, 1973. ISBN0-7063-1811-0
External links[edit]
- The Conder Tokens Enthusiast - resources regarding 18th Century English Provincial token coinage
- National Museum of Australia 1865 Australian cuprous halfpenny trading token.