# What is the origin of casino chip colors?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-casino-chip-colors/985240>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [June 9, 2023, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-casino-chip-colors/985240 "2023-06-09T12:54:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-casino-chip-colors/985240/1 "2023-06-09T12:54:09Z")

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Wherever you go, there is a 98% chance that if you step into a casino or a private poker game, you’ll use chips to gamble, and those chips will follow a predictable pattern of color/value:

$1 - White, or a very light blue in rare cases  
$5 - Red  
$25 - Green  
$100 - Black  
$500 - Purple/lavender

Even rarely used denominations are almost always consistent; $2.50, often seen at blackjack tables to pay out blackjacks when the player bet an odd number, is pretty much universally pink. $10, which used to be more common but is now rarely seen, is pretty much always blue. If you play in richer games, the $1000 chip will be bright yellow or orange.

I’m curious as to when this happened.