Let’s face it – Casinos are a great experience. From the noise of various machines, a scream from a winner hitting it big, the smell of poker buddies enjoying a cigar, to the taste of comp drinks, casinos are a feast for the senses.
And for your sense of touch (and a great way to keep score), we have casino chips.
Obviously, the big use behind chips is currency – casinos use chips to make money easier to handle for everyone – the player, the dealers, etc. But chips are also used by casinos for various reasons besides just currency – in fact, one of their main purposes is marketing. Each chip is a nice piece of art with a casino’s name – hence, it’s a travelling mini advertisement for the casino. And it’s better than any business card, because you can win money with it!
Casinos know using chips instead of cash results in more revenue. This makes sense, because if you have a stack of bills in front of you, it’s easier to fold them up call it a night. But when you have one hundred dollars in chips, it’s more tempting to just play a few more games instead of walking over to the cashier’s cage to cash out your winnings.
Chips also keep the various games honest. Having uniform sizes and weights allows chips to be counted accurately and quickly. Their difficulty (and expense) in manufacturing reduces counterfeiting as well. So you have a marketing tool that increases advertising, encourages players to game longer, reduce losses, and speeds up logistics. All from a little chip!
Chip colours (like the chips themselves) help the casinos run smoothly. A quick glance at the colour tells you a chips denomination. It would be impractical (and slow) to read the number on each chip so colour is used to communicate worth. There’s a uniform colour standard within each casino. That said; here are the common colours you’ll probably see: White or Blue chips equals a dollar. Red chips or “Nickles” are worth five dollars. Green chips or “Quarters” are worth twenty-five dollars. Purple chips or “Barneys” (Yes, just like the children’s dinosaur) are worth five hundred dollars. And last we have “Pumpkins” – orange chips coming in at one thousand dollars. But again, this isn’t set in stone (or set in chips, for that matter.)
So next time you’re in a casino, use chip colours as a quick way to find a table for play. When you’re finished with your game, keep a few chips as gifts for your friends. Besides being worth their weight in… well… money, they also make great souvenirs.
