In a place like Vegas or Atlantic City, to what extent are casino chips used as currency? A lot? Not at all? I’ve heard of chips being used as tips but have no first or second hand knowledge of this. Can chips be used as informal currency outside it’s own casino? Or is this banned?
I’ve never heard of it in Tunica. Of course, Tunica is now largely underwater and the casinos are closed. The main concern I’d have about such a transaction is that the casinos swap out chips every so often–they post notices on the gaming floor, likely publish in local papers that current chips will not be honored after a specified date. It would be my luck to accept an outdated chip in a transaction…
I’ve been to Atlantic City, and no, I didn’t find anyplace that accepted casino chips except casinos, even on the boardwalk. I do believe that casino companies with multiple locations may accept each others chips at the various locations, but you can’t use a Tropicana chip at Trump Palace, let alone Burger King.
I think there was an older thread or column about this, where it was mentioned that people drop chips into collection plates at the churches in Vegas, and that somebody is then tasked with going around each casino to exchange them back for money.
In the Catholic churches in and around Las Vegas, it’s not unusual for casino chips to wind up in the collection baskets. For the local parish priest (or anyone on his staff) to separate all of the chips by casino, and then go to each casino to redeem them, would be time-consuming and not the best use of the priest’s time. Multiply this by all of the churches in the Las Vegas diocese, and you can see how this would be a huge problem.
So all the churches keep records of the chips they receive, then they send them off to a local monastery, where a low-level friar has the job of sorting them, redeeming them, and sending the money back to the local parishes.
His job title: chip monk.
Thank you, thank you. I’ll be here all week.
Their cashiers all have signs saying that they specifically aren’t good anywhere but there (meaning the cage: not even that property’s amenities like paying for your room, restaurant, etc). They are frequently used to tip waitresses who bring you your free drink, and almost always used to tip dealers.
In the past I’ve seen McHarrahs’ properties accept each other’s chips (Showboat accepting Ballys chips in AC, for example) but even this has mostly stopped. Regulars who know/sort of trust each other will trade chips from time to time - you can see some of this going on during the TV show High Stakes Poker, even.
Only once in Vegas did I see a dealer (boss, actually) accept a ‘foreign’ property’s chip, mainly because he wanted the action (it was a yellow or brown, I don’t remember which). He immediately swapped it out.
I used to live in LV. It was common knowledge (and probably even true) that Federal law prohibits casino chips from being used like an alternate currency outside of the issuing casino.
The issue with sibling properties gets a bit murky. For example, one slot machine company puts in all the slots in 7-11 convenience stores. So their brand of dollar tokens can be used in the slot machines in all the various 7-11 stores in town even though those stores may be separately owned and operated.
Meawhile some other slot operator has all the slots in the AM/PM Minimart convenience store chain. Their tokens can be used in the slots at any AM/PM Minimart.
But AM/PM “dollars” can’t be used in 7-11 slots. Nor vice versa.
And neither slot company’s tokens can be used to buy cigs or booze or Slim Jims at either store. Only genuine Uncle Sam green money can be used for that.
The Secret Service has a pretty big contingent in LV. This was one of many things they watched.
Note that due to counterfeiting, special UV marks, even RFID chips (!), are used in casino chips nowadays. A casino is presumably only set up to detect their own chips and so would of course be hesitant to accept others. Even more so for other businesses. Even the special visible marks used might not be all that familiar to other businesses.
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I believe you couldn’t be required to accept casino chips, but if you were willing to pay with them and I was willing to accept them, why on earth would this be illegal?
Yeah, there are plenty of other alternate currencies used in the US and around the world. Stores near the Canadian border will sometimes accept Canadian currency. Prisoners will use things like cigarettes as currency. Heck, I’ve used Good-n-Plenty candies as currency. Uncle Sam might not accept any of those, and Verizon probably won’t let me pay my phone bill that way, but that doesn’t stop them from being currency.
Sounds logical, but I can tell you from first hand experience that casinos in Las Vegas and Reno have no problem taking chips from the other nearby casinos. Happens all day, every day. They do change them out for you when you try to bet with them. Now, this is true for chips up to $100. I would not be surprised if you had some trouble with big denominations.
Kenny Uston wrote in one of his books that he would regularly used higher prestige casino chips in a lower quality place as part of his disguise. He seemed to believe it would put pit bosses at ease because “Cesar’s already liked his action” and make them anxious to steal the whale from big boys.
I’m also wondering this. Isn’t it legal as long as all parties agree? So if I wanted to sell you a motorcycle in New Jersey for 2000 Canadian Dollars, 200 British Pounds, and 5 steel wrenches, and you agreed, what, specifically, is illegal about that transaction?
Off the top of my head, it ought to be fine. The kicker is casino chips are a form of fiat money – and like all fiat money, the chips’ value as money derives from your trust in the backer.
So if you are willing to accept payment in (for example) Trump Taj Mahal chips, you are trusting that Trump Taj Mahal will buy them back from you.
For the “alternate currency” crowd, there are several such systems in place in the USA today. I think I first heard about these here.
For example, check out Ithica Hours.
You being willing to accept chips as payment is the key. The casinos aren’t. They are markers only as far as they are concerned. You can’t use them in the restaurants, you can’t use them in the shops, you can’t pay your room bill with them. The only reason waitresses take them is because customers will stop tipping if they balk.
The second you take chips off property they are worthless until you return to that property to redeem them. They are fiat and depend entirely on the casino to redeem them. My chips from the Stardust are worth only what a collector is willing to give me for them, not their “face value.”
Regarding the legal aspect, the law is something like “Only the federal government has the right to make currency.” Those schemes in some cities where some merchants agree to take some form of coupon in exchange for merchandise are limited in scope to those who have agreed to the exchange; the stuff is not usable ‘everywhere’.
Casino chips given as tips are not purchases or payments, they are ‘gifts’; the giver is not purchasing something. Certainly you have the right to give away what you own.
As for using the chips in other casinos, most places will allow you to bet chips from other casinos on the tables but they will not exchange them for cash. Once the bet has been lost, the dealer drops the “foreign money” down the slot into the drop box. Some places may ask you to to exchange the chips at their cashier rather than bet them on the tables, but the cashier will only exchange them for chips, not for cash. Sometimes, either when a bankruptcy is pending or just a personal feud between casino owners, places might refuse to take the chips of a certain casino, but generally, they want the action … they don’t want to tell a player with chips to go gamble somewhere else.
Once in a while, when there are enough chips to make it worthwhile, an employee, likely a security guard, will drive around to several casinos to cash in the chips that have accumulated.
Back in the pre-Metrocard days in NYC, like before 1995 or so, I used subway tokens as currency more than once to pay for lunch - pizza or a sandwich at a deli. They easily resold them or used them themselves at face value so there was no hesitation.
The problem with casino chips is that there is no Vegas Standard chip, each casino has its own and in general, don’t even cross-honor chips from casinos operated by the same outfit. So while you’re in the casino, you can do things like tip waitresses with the chips and (IIRC) even pay for drinks at the bar or food at a casino-run buffet with the chips, but not usually at the shops or other restaurants that may lease space in the building.
Wow, you clotheslined me with that one. Not easy to do these days. Nice! 
I believe the law is that you can’t coin money. Here’s a release from the US Mint about the Liberty Dollar, a private currency that minted coins of precious metals which was shut down by the government. Note that other private currencies are allowed to persist, which suggests that the laws are fairly specific on what’s disallowed.
Clearly the casinos don’t fall afoul of this law. Chips are both not made of those medals and are not intended as currency. If other people want to use them as currency, that doesn’t appear to be against the law.
Based on my observations, it is acceptable in Atlantic City to tip bartenders, etc. with chips (especially from the same casino where the bar/restaurant is located), also the tip bowls in restrooms w/attendants are customarily filled with $1 chips. With regard to tipping, I don’t think the willingness to accept chips in lieu of cash has anything to do with casino regulations or currency laws, its just that because a chip can be exchanged for face value at the issuing casino, in the eyes of the server is just as good as cash, besides the customer technically doesn’t have to leave anything. However, I’ve never heard of any establishment accepting chips in exchange for merchandise, to pay a restaurant check, or for any other goods or services that a customer is legally obligated to pay for.