Should Casino Chips be a thing of the past?

There has been research to make table games chipless for some years. This would hold obvious advantages to casinos (easy to track balances, less burdensome than counting and managing chips, no fear of counterfeit chips, etc.....)

I have long held disdain for casino chips, they seem antiquated, inconvenient, and disgusting (disease transmission).

The current pandemic of COVID-19 seems to reinforce the need for casinos to innovate in this sector now more than ever.

I feel that all table games and poker should be made chipless with terminals to allow inputting a player card and balance added to the card, and bets placed easily by an interactive screen which can track results in real time. This could also be great for poker, prevents players from fumbling with chips or arguing about a stated bet vs what was placed.

It could also allow for payouts to be made through ACH (as well as balances added), I think casinos also need to work on being less cash-centrict and more focused on electronic payouts.

This could be a breakthrough in public health at casinos. And, casinos would be able to lead the way in hand hygiene, by showing that they are serious about public health. (And, they would probably make an increased profit in the process by increasing bet speeds and increasing efficiency in all transactions). This would also make it easier to track table play for tax purposes.

Does anyone else agree that casino chips should be a thing of the past? Or do you think it is too early in history to abolish chips?

Quote: Gandler

There has been research to make table games chipless for some years. This would hold obvious advantages to casinos (easy to track balances, less burdensome than counting and managing chips, no fear of counterfeit chips, etc.....)

I have long held disdain for casino chips, they seem antiquated, inconvenient, and disgusting (disease transmission).

The current pandemic of COVID-19 seems to reinforce the need for casinos to innovate in this sector now more than ever.

I feel that all table games and poker should be made chipless with terminals to allow inputting a player card and balance added to the card, and bets placed easily by an interactive screen which can track results in real time. This could also be great for poker, prevents players from fumbling with chips or arguing about a stated bet vs what was placed.

It could also allow for payouts to be made through ACH (as well as balances added), I think casinos also need to work on being less cash-centrict and more focused on electronic payouts.

This could be a breakthrough in public health at casinos. And, casinos would be able to lead the way in hand hygiene, by showing that they are serious about public health. (And, they would probably make an increased profit in the process by increasing bet speeds and increasing efficiency in all transactions). This would also make it easier to track table play for tax purposes.

Does anyone else agree that casino chips should be a thing of the past? Or do you think it is too early in history to abolish chips?

They can get rid of the chips, but you're still touching the felt and the cards. The casinos are doing the right thing already getting rid of the dirty people and the dirty people. We're animals bub. You can't climb into the matrix and control these things, just have to live. If it was ever in our best interest, we would never touch our faces involuntarily, but we do, because biologically, our evolution says people who don't aren't worth living.

Quote: onenickelmiracle

They can get rid of the chips, but you're still touching the felt and the cards. The casinos are doing the right thing already getting rid of the dirty people and the dirty people. We're animals bub. You can't climb into the matrix and control these things, just have to live. If it was ever in our best interest, we would never touch our faces involuntarily, but we do, because biologically, our evolution says people who don't aren't worth living.

Touching the cards would pretty much only apply to poker and maybe some baccarat.

And, there are ways around this as well, such as RFID cards which could display on your kiosk to tell you what cards you were dealt without having to touch them (a display which can quickly be closed to prevent people from looking).

Some casinos do better jobs than others getting rid of dirty people. I would argue casinos tend to have people with poor hygiene in general because people tend to drink and party when there and not care about such things, and also they tend to attract some people with various issues which can be a bad combination of poor hygiene.

I think we can do more to control public health at casinos. Sure we need to live life. But, we don't need to intentionally allow conditions that spread disease, when there are better alternatives.

Quote: Gandler

Touching the cards would pretty much only apply to poker and maybe some baccarat.

And, there are ways around this as well, such as RFID cards which could display on your kiosk to tell you what cards you were dealt without having to touch them (a display which can quickly be closed to prevent people from looking).

Some casinos do better jobs than others getting rid of dirty people. I would argue casinos tend to have people with poor hygiene in general because people tend to drink and party when there and not care about such things, and also they tend to attract some people with various issues which can be a bad combination of poor hygiene.

I think we can do more to control public health at casinos. Sure we need to live life. But, we don't need to intentionally allow conditions that spread disease, when there are better alternatives.

You're not thinking about the consequences of overprotection. Dirty people was sarcasm bub. You can make millions selling bubbles to live in. There are some places where sanitation is necessary and needed to be taken seriously, still the same place, the hospitals. Casinos, daily life, if it could be done without being burdensome, it would be nice, but it can only be not burdensome in our minds, not in reality.

Casinos were disinfecting slot machines every two hours. McDonald's was disinfecting their order board after every use.
Eliminating chips only gives the tax man more incentive, and they always have incredibly dirty hands.

It's harder to Rat Hole electronic chips(however, not impossible)

No, keep the cheques. They are part of the table game experience. They tried chipless tables here, the tore them out in a few months.

If you are worried about touching cheques then you need to see a shrink about OCD. You touch so many things just as bad.

Though I will concede I have told some poker rooms they need to wash the tournament chips. But that is not the same as getting rid of chips altogether.

Quote: AZDuffman

No, keep the cheques. They are part of the table game experience. They tried chipless tables here, the tore them out in a few months.

If you are worried about touching cheques then you need to see a shrink about OCD. You touch so many things just as bad.

Though I will concede I have told some poker rooms they need to wash the tournament chips. But that is not the same as getting rid of chips altogether.

What casino tried them and why were they removed? Technical issue or was it unpopular?

I agree its part of the experience, but it is a part of the experience that I do not particularly like or find safe.

Some negatives....... If it is done by computer the guy who convinces himself he lost 'around a hundred' will now have solid evidence he lost two hundred.
Some (embarrassingly, me included!) when up, physically rathole chips to insure a win. Won't be able to in the way I'm used to.

I checked my win loss statement for the year. It said up $300 ish. I'm up closer to $1500. I think stringent card requirements would eliminate these errors.

It's obviously a negative for the AP community. Being able to computer track bet sizing....... might end card counting as we know it.

You think the casino would not look at my account differently when it sees I make 15 bets per day on UT at an EV of 200+%?

I doubt that chips would ever disappear. They are, from the casino's standpoint, to good of a marketing and revenue device. Think about it; would your attitude at the table change is you had to throw out 5 one hundred dollar bills vs. 1 chip? The psychology changes when you see the real money..it's more real than a plastic chip.

As far as the virus goes, most casinos destroy thier chips and create new ones every few years so they'd just make new ones when this all blows over and they were less likely to be infected.