Big Question Time! (1 Viewer)

[Murphtastic]

So after a year of scouring and seeing lots of beautiful chips on the forum, I have imminently wondered something. Where do people get these new Paulson/casino chips from? I see them, and like every other Joe who has an eye for pretty things, I’d like to acquire a small cash set to enjoy. Tbh the prices of said chips seem astronomical for what they actually are, just my opinion. I think I know how people get them, I could guess. But I would like insight. How do you get these new chips. Are we really just walking into casinos with new chips on the floor, buying them and walking out? That’s what I’ve deducted. Are there consequences for doing so? Is everybody attaining them through that method alone? I presume some have different sources. I’m sure some answers won’t be spelled out for me. But any knowledge on the matter is entertaining to me. Thanks for your consolidation.

 

[ekricket]

Yes you can just go “buy” chips from a casino and walk out with them.

Most of what you see though are factory buys thru willing salespeople. If you put effort into it you might be able to find one. You need an invoicing system.

 

[warewulf]

I've never done this, but I believe that when I new casino opens or is known to be releasing new chips, people will just line up at the cashier and buy mint racks. Not sure if all casinos will allow that, or just some.

The only chips I've bought like that from the cashier: Binions about 20 years ago. I walked up to the cashier, told them I'd like 3 racks for my home game. They weren't busy (no lines). The cashier helped me briefly cherry pick a few racks. Of course, I gave him a decent tip.

Others have reported 'harvesting'. That is when you play some games and pocket some chips. They're not likely to sell you a rack of fracs, so have to pocket those a few at a time.

 

[CellarDoor85]

My local Casino (Spielbank Berlin) once told me, that they are not happy about taking Chips out of the House. For two Reasons: Production Costs and "Outside Depts".
E.G.: 15 Years ago, the Spielbank Berlin changed his Jetons to high-value Chips. Because of Finance-Regulations here you cannot make old Jetons/Chips obsolete as long as a certain amount is in still circulation. They have to wait longer than expected because an old rich Woman took 2 10000€-Plaques at home for Decoration ^^.
So: not forbidden, but it's not encouraged either.

 

[Johnblue]

If they are new chips from a live casino, yes, people just buy them/pocket them. Some casinos don’t care, every time I go to Vegas I take home a few souvenir chips from where I play, I thinks ton of people do, always have, so it’s kinda baked in, profit for the casino, cash they don’t have to give back to customers.

Some people seem to “harvest” chips to make racks/sets, obviously much easier to do with 1s than 5s or 25s. Cool thing about making a set with live chips from an open casino, is you can go cash them back at the casino anytime.

Here at PCF, there’s also a lot of chips/racks/sets that cane from closed casinos, or when casinos security decided to completely change the chip line-up. Laws vary by state, Nevada requires casinos destroy the old chips, other states allow old chips to be sold or distributed at will.

Most casinos when ordering a chip line-up up, make two full sets of colors designs : primary chips which are what are in use… and a secondary line up, they have on hand in case of a security breach, they literally always have an entire different color set of the all the chips they need to run the casino operations just sitting in back incase counterfeits start popping up, they pull all the chips of the floor and shift to the secondary chips designs.

a lot of the “brand new” chips you see on PCF are casino secondary chips that had never been played and resold later after a casino closed or rebranded, or they just decided to get new chips,

In much more rare cases There are some people who have convinced Paulson they were opening a casino, just to buy chips, or others who have casino connections who helped people order chips for a charity event or some other high roller situation.

Not exactly sure, but Paulson/GPI policy is to not sell chips for the home market, they used to manufacture for the home market a bit in the far past, but do not any longer, intjink since the 80s ?

The main thing is security, they document the colors and edge spots meticulously, it’s the main security feature.

 

[QuietMaple]

If they are new chips from a live casino, yes, people just buy them/pocket them. Some casinos don’t care, every time I go to Vegas I take home a few souvenir chips from where I play, I thinks ton of people do, always have, so it’s kinda baked in, profit for the casino, cash they don’t have to give back to customers.

Some people seem to “harvest” chips to make racks/sets, obviously much easier to do with 1s than 5s or 25s. Cool thing about making a set with live chips from an open casino, is you can go cash them back at the casino anytime.

Here at PCF, there’s also a lot of chips/racks/sets that cane from closed casinos, or when casinos security decided to completely change the chip line-up. Laws vary by state, Nevada requires casinos destroy the old chips, other states allow old chips to be sold or distributed at will.

Most casinos when ordering a chip line-up up, make two full sets of colors designs : primary chips which are what are in use… and a secondary line up, they have on hand in case of a security breach, they literally always have an entire different color set of the all the chips they need to run the casino operations just sitting in back incase counterfeits start popping up, they pull all the chips of the floor and shift to the secondary chips designs.

a lot of the “brand new” chips you see on PCF are casino secondary chips that had never been played and resold later after a casino closed or rebranded, or they just decided to get new chips,

In much more rare cases There are some people who have convinced Paulson they were opening a casino, just to buy chips, or others who have casino connections who helped people order chips for a charity event or some other high roller situation.

Not exactly sure, but Paulson/GPI policy is to not sell chips for the home market, they used to manufacture for the home market a bit in the far past, but do not any longer, intjink since the 80s ?

The main thing is security, they document the colors and edge spots meticulously, it’s the main security feature.

Nice overview, thanks.