Casino Chip of the Day

Going to be in the SW suburbs of Minneapolis (within 5 miles of the Mistake by the Lake Mystic Lake) for several days this month. Haven't played anywhere else in the area, haven't been up there in 10 years. I like carnival table games; also looking for VP and cheap blackjack (either electronic or table). Is Mystic/Little Six still our best option, or is there somewhere else worth seeing within 1/2 hour or so? Canterbury, Shakopee, etc.? Thanks in advance.

Since 1997 was the last time that I was doing anything anywhere in Minnesota other than changing planes in the Minneapolis airport, I don't have any info to offer you. I suspect that rdw4potus may be your best resource.

I just wanted to note that your post once again points out that this is perhaps as much a travel-info thread as a collecting thread.

;-)

Quote: Doc

Since 1997 was the last time that I was doing anything anywhere in Minnesota other than changing planes in the Minneapolis airport, I don't have any info to offer you. I suspect that rdw4potus may be your best resource.

I just wanted to note that your post once again points out that this is perhaps as much a travel-info thread as a collecting thread.

;-)

Ya know, Doc, I apologize. I was looking at the conversation, not that it was the CotD thread. I'll leave it for now since you welcome it, but I should have found somewhere else for it.

MN has a 98% return cap on VP (excepting progressives, though those are rare). So, 8/5 JOB is about as good as you'll find anywhere in the state.

For BJ, Mystic has the best rules in the area: 6 or 8 decks, RSA, DA2, DAS, 3:2, some tables offer late surrender (they're marked) and the "high limit" ($25) area is all LS. But, all tables are H17. With surrender, that's about a 0.45% game. Without, it's about 0.65%. I don't think you count, but they really don't care if you do. If you do go to the highlimit, watch for the Asian families backcounting and swarming. It's pretty funny to see.

But, Mystic only has BJ. So, if you want Carny games, drive 5 miles up the street to Canterbury. There, you'll find BJ (no surrender, but otherwise same rules as Mystic), 3 card, MS Stud, UTH, PGP, bacc, and, I think, switch. UTH has the 8/6 trips paytable, PGP is funky - 3 pairs pushes the fortune bonus, 3 card PP is 5/4. All of those games have SHFL's progressive on them.

Running Aces has a similar set of games to Canterbury. That's North of Minneapolis, probably 60 minutes from Mystic (depending on traffic through town). If you wanted to check/chase jackpots, both shops publish the current levels on their websites.

Treasure Island has a similar set of games to Mystic. It's about a 45 minute drive between the properties. TI does not offer surrender, but they do have a pretty big no-smoking area (it's by the bingo hall) that includes BJ, VP, and slots. TI also offers some carny games. Generally, those games have worse rules and worse dealers than at Canterbury or Running Aces (exception: TI's UTH has a 9/7 trips paytable).

Note: all info accurate as of Nov13...

Edit: and, to tie this back in, Mystic has relatively new chips. Maybe pick one up & post it:-)

Thanks very much, rdw!

Quote: rdw4potus

Do you already have chips from the Philly area casinos, and from Dover Downs and Harrington Raceway in DE? Those seem to be somewhat in-path if you need them.

Got Philly when I had a car on an AC trip a few years back. No DE chips though, will check that out.

Quote: wezvidz

Got Philly when I had a car on an AC trip a few years back. No DE chips though, will check that out.

A few years? Was Valley Forge open then?

Category: Canada
City: Calgary, Alberta
Casino: Elbow River

Today's chip of the day is from Elbow River Casino in Calgary, AB. The casino opened in 1989. The casino has New Orleans theme, it has 600 slot machines and 27 table games including BJ, Roulette, Baccarat, Pai Gow Tiles, Craps, Ultimate Texas Holdem, Caribbean Stud Poker and a 24/7 limit poker room. I ht n run this casino for my chip.

The chip is Grey with double edged purple inserts. The centre inlay is white with the casino name and logo in black.

Quote: rdw4potus

A few years? Was Valley Forge open then?

Yep, got that one. Trip was in spring of 2013 I think.

Looks like DE is a no go. Leads to too much driving each day... my point on these trips is 6.5hours or so max driving so I don't get burned out and have time to relax, drink and gamble at my final stop each day. These out out of the way DE casinos mess that up.

Thanks again though. Next time I'm on a family vacation to DC or Philly, I'll for sure venture down one day to hit the DE casinos.

Hey Doc this is proving to be harder than I thought to post everyday in Vegas. Wifi in the hotel is horrible. If you have anyone that would like to take the lead for a couple weeks that would be good. Otherwise I will try to post as often as I can while here.

I understand that completely. When I initially started this thread, I took breaks while on travel status. That's why the thread has never had 365 new chips in a year. Not only is there a bit of a time crunch when traveling, but also I never bring a computer on trips any more.

Here's the call for a volunteer pinch hitter: Who has a few new chips ready and will step in while PokerGrinder is on the road?

Quote: Doc

...Here's the call for a volunteer pinch hitter: Who has a few new chips ready and will step in while PokerGrinder is on the road?

I can do my Casino Windsor/Northern Belle chip tonight and a small paragraph about Victories Michigan tomorrow.

Category: Canada
City: Windsor
Casino: Casino Windsor & Northern Belle Casino

Today's chip come from Casino Windsor & The Northern Belle Casino, with the former being a riverboat casino that was brought in for overflow crowds. Casino Windsor originally opened May 17th, 1995. There was a free shuttle service between both casinos. I first went to the Northern Belle in January 1996.

From Wikipedia:
"In 1993, the Ontario government selected a joint venture of Caesars World, Circus Circus Enterprises, and Hilton Hotels to build and operate a province-owned casino.[5]

Casino Windsor opened in a temporary location in September 1994, as Ontario's first casino. The former Art Gallery of Windsor located on Riverside Drive was refitted to house the interim casino. The casino saw record numbers, attracting millions of customers from the U.S. and Canada. Line-ups wrapped around the building. In response, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation announced it would bring a riverboat casino to the riverfront. The Northern Belle was located at the foot of Ouellette Ave. on the Detroit River. It was open from December 1995 to July 1998.

During this time, the permanent casino was under construction on the former Windsor Market site, a few blocks west of the temporary casino. It opened on July 29, 1998,[6] with a grand opening celebration with a James Bond 007 theme. Daisy Fuentes and Regis Philbin were among the stars that attended. The new site included a waterfall and tropical entrance, hotel, five restaurants, gift shops and an entertainment lounge."

I couldn't find a picture of the former building in the old art gallery so this was as close as I could find. The red rectangle was the location of the original casino and you can see the current Caesar's Windsor in the upper left corner.


The Northern Belle was brought in later as wait times to get into the casino were routinely more than an hour long.

The Northern Belle on the Detroit River.

The chip I have, I believe, is a Paulson with the obvious hat and cane. Both sides are the same with the exception that "Casino Windsor Casino, Ontario, Canada" is labeled on one side and "Northern Belle Casino, Windsor, Ontario" on the other. My $5 chip is yellow in color and has a red maple leaf with red, pink and yellow edge inserts.

Also, in the mid 90's up until 9-11-01, crossing back and forth from Windsor to Detroit was very easy. Only twice was I ever asked on the Canadian side to be searched. Ironically this happened on consecutive nights. I got the same inspection officer on the second night who immediately recognized me and released me. We actually laughed over it. Coming back to Detroit was even easier. I was never asked to be searched. The routine questions were "where were you?" and "did you win?"

One other thing was the extremely great exchange rate in the late 90's. At one point $100 U.S. would get you about $175 Canadian. And limits were pretty low in both casinos. You could easily find a $5 table on almost any game.

Well, this one sure presents some questions about the best way to list it in the index! Not only is there the issue of the leading/redundant "Casino", but there are two different names representing two separate facilities (land-based and boat), with neither facility being the one in operation today.

I decided to list this one as "Windsor/Northern Belle" and hope that this seems reasonable.

If anyone else has chips from any incarnation of Casino Windsor, this seems like the right time to post the images. Some day perhaps I'll make it to the Detroit/Windsor area to collect chips, but that opportunity has not yet arisen.




My wife and I have a little trip planned later this month, with my chip-collecting obsession being one of the key motivators. Until yesterday, the plan was to set out from home in NC to (1) Biloxi, MS for two nights to get chips from the renamed Harrah's Gulf Coast and the sold/renamed Golden Nugget, (2) to Lake Charles, LA to visit the new Golden Nugget there, (3) to Bossier City, LA (perhaps continuing all the way there from Biloxi the same day) to see the Margaritaville, and (4) to make the two-day drive home via the Choctaw tribe's Pearl River Resort near Philadelphia, MS and their Golden Moon Casino.

The Pearl River Resort has two casinos across the road from each other: the Golden Moon and the Silver Star. When I posted my chip from the Silver Star, I noted that prior to my mid-week visit there, business was down, and the Golden Moon was only operating on weekends. I planned to go back later to collect the other chip on a weekend visit. I also noted that business subsequently went even lower, and they replaced the table games pit at Golden Moon with a concert stage, leaving no opportunity at all for me to collect that chip.

Earlier this week, I saw an article that said the Choctaw had performed a $70M renovation of Golden Moon and had a brand new table games area in operation. I called to make sure that was true before adding that as one of the planned stops on this month's trip.

Then yesterday, I made another discovery. Back in 2012, I posted my chip from the Southland Park casino in West Memphis, AR, one of the two casinos in Arkansas. I had collected that chip by playing electronic blackjack -- the iTable game, with electronic cards and wagering but with cashouts paid in real chips. I had in mind some day to get a chip from the other Arkansas casino, but in this 2013 post, rdw4potus reported that he had visited the Oaklawn Park casino in Hot Springs to discover that on their iTable blackjack games, cashouts had been converted to tickets, like TITO slot machines, and said, "... if anyone is thinking of going to the middle of Arkansas to visit a wonderful and historic track that happens to have a casino, know that there are no chips to collect there."

Well, the discovery I made yesterday came from looking at the Oaklawn Park web site, where they have conflicting info: one place saying that they have the iTable game and one place saying "real cards and real chips." I called the casino to get the straight story, and spoke directly to a pit supervisor. She said that they are using the iTable but that they are now cashing out with real, physical chips, just as they do at Southland Park.

Last night I started trying to figure out a new route for our trip to include a stop in Hot Springs without adding an additional day. I'm not sure I have that figured out completely, but the draft revised plan is to drive from home to the Pearl River Resort and Golden Moon Casino, spending the first night somewhere in that vicinity, possibly a little closer to Biloxi, and driving on to Biloxi the following morning for a one-night stay. Then, we can go from there to Lake Charles and Bossier City as planned but make the two-day drive home via Hot Springs.

I don't know why my wife still puts up with me.

Quote: Doc

Well, this one sure presents some questions about the best way to list it in the index! Not only is there the issue of the leading/redundant "Casino", but there are two different names representing two separate facilities (land-based and boat), with neither facility being the one in operation today.

I decided to list this one as "Windsor/Northern Belle" and hope that this seems reasonable.

If anyone else has chips from any incarnation of Casino Windsor, this seems like the right time to post the images. Some day perhaps I'll make it to the Detroit/Windsor area to collect chips, but that opportunity has not yet arisen.

I think the way you listed it was the best option. Technically, they were the same casino, just one had a different name. There were never any separate Northern Belle chips, at least for this location.

If/when you ever make it to Michigan for the numerous chips here, I think you'll enjoy it. Especially in the north and around the lakes. And if I'm still around here, I can give you some tips for the Detroit area. Downtown where the casinos are is not a bad area. I'm here every day when not out scouting and I've never had a problem.

I'll have a post about Victories casino tonight.

State: Michigan
City: Petoskey
Casino: Victories

Victories casino was a smallish casino located in Petoskey, Michigan on US-131. It closed in 2007 and was renamed Odawa. It is owned and operated by the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. I played blackjack there a few times back in the early 2000's. I don't remember much else as I never played that long.

Here is a picture from Google Earth street view of the former building which still stands today. The current Odawa is across the street and behind Wal-Mart.


While I don't have a chip in hand, I thought it'd be a good idea to include it since I did play there and did have them in my possession at one time. If I remember correctly, the chips were the Chipco type similar to what the Kewadin Casinos have.

Is there a race car track nearby? An Indy car in Indianapolis I get, but Detroit? They only have a grand prix event once a year in the streets downtown.

Doc does this casino get included in index if nobody has the chip? I like how you listed northern belle Windsor casino btw

Quote: Ayecarumba

Is there a race car track nearby? An Indy car in Indianapolis I get, but Detroit? They only have a grand prix event once a year in the streets downtown.

It was last weekend but on Belle Isle. No clue why it was on the chip. There are race tracks all over the state.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Doc does this casino get included in index if nobody has the chip?

I missed that part. Up to Doc if he would like me to delete it. Had I never been there, nor played, I would not have posted it. The Windsor chip I do still have, unfortunately. I'd rather have the money :-(

In the hope that I am not setting a precedent, I have included this in the index as our chip of the day. In post#1, I said I didn't want the thread to be a place for folks to just post images they found on the web -- there are enough places like that already. On the other hand, if a member here who is not a collector were to pick up a chip at a casino and post it as the chip of the day, I couldn't really expect the non-collector to keep the chip forever. I'll consider today's case a special exception in which the member let go of the chip prior to posting the image.

That's all I have also.

I posted a link to my chip collecting trip report from this past weekend but apparently I can't link to other message boards as the post was nuked. My notes:

Now up to 354 cainos visited.

This trip I flew into Philly, drove down to Delaware for the night and gambled at Dover Downs. Saturday I drove through Baltimore up to Pittsburgh and gambled at Rivers for the night. Sunday drove north through WV to NW Pennsylvania, over to a few NY Senaca casinos

My notes:

- Too much driving. I anticipated 7 hours/day, but with staying a little while at each place, it was too much. Future trips will have a planned max of 4.5 hours driving each day so I'm not exhausted by the time I hit my destination.

- Dover Downs: terrible vibe in the casino. NO BARTOP VP. First casino ever I've been in without them? At 25c, 6/5 DDB, 6/5 JOB. Wowzer, you think CET is raping Vegas strip VP, I saw similarly terrible paytables all over on my trip. Had the worst craps session of my life (combined with the next night at Rivers). My 2 DC strategy got mutilated. First time that's happened. Drinks were cheap, 3.50 for a crown & ginger. Downside is no waitresses, just a rolling cart that comes around every 30 min. Not fast enough for me.





- PA casino laws are F'ing weird. I ran into this a few years ago when I went to AC and drove over to a few Philly casinos. The Lady Luck Casino Nemacolin is a "private resort" casino where you need a voucher to enter. This entails either staying at their resort or buying a $10 gift card for their gift shop? to get in. Either way it's not open to public walkins without this weird runaround. I had some nice security guys understand I was just stopping in for a chip and they let me walk to a table, get it and leave.

- Rivers: Bartop 30/6/5 BP and 7/5 DDB so basically CET Vegas standards. Bleh. Got killed at craps again but drink service was much better here and a decent casino.

- Stopped at Presque Isle Downs in Erie PA, a horsetrack casino and since it had been a 2 hour drive from Mountaineer in WV decided to sit at the one open bartop for a little VP. Here's another nugget: no Game King machines, I don't know what these are but it feels like I'm playing a VP simulator on the computer (I was told these are Bally's machines). Slipped in a $20. Hit this within 5-10 minutes.



I went up to 50c. Not 5 minutes later...





BINK. This sure felt nice.

- Weather got terrible going into Buffalo. Rainy, muggy and became very foggy. At this point I should have said Fu&K Canada because I was running behind schedule and had to be up at 4:30am for my flight out of Buffalo. Crossed border and had to pull over and have my car searched. My story of collecting casino chips and having $2k cash on me was suspicious I guess. Border officers were asshole. Then I didn't realize my phone wouldn't work in Canada (duh?) so navigating with Wayz was a no go. I got half lost and decided to just cut bait and head home. Skipped Fallsview, Casino Niagra, and Senaca Niagra. It was dark, foggy as hell and I was lost. Finally found the Rainbow bridge over to the states. Yet again I had to pull over and have my car torn apart because my "story" didn't sound legit to the asshole border agents. Wasted like 3 hours getting no chips in Canada, but I'm sure I'll be up there again sometime in my life. Really soured my trip how rude these border people are to law abiding citizens.

The $2k royal still kept my mood up though. Enjoyable trip. Officially was in 7 states and Canada over 3 days.

Chips collected:

Delaware (3)
Harrington Raceway (Harrington)
Delaware Park (Wilmington)
Dover Downs (Dover)

Maryland (4)
Hollywood Casino Perryville (Perryville)
Horseshoe (Baltimore)
Maryland Live! (Hanover)
Rocky Gap (Cumberland)

New York (3)
Seneca Allegany (Salamanca)
Seneca Buffalo Creek (Buffalo)
Seneca Gaming and Entertainment (Salamanca)

Pennsylvania (4)
Lady Luck Casino Nemacolin (Farmington)
Meadows Racetrack (Washington)
Presque Isle Downs (Erie)
Rivers (Pittsburgh)

West Virginia (2)
Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races (Charles Town)
Mountaineer (New Cumberland)

No new chips for this thread unfortunately. Next trip will be driving around my home state in August most likely hitting some casinos around Jacksonville and some other Jai Alai/Poker Rooms that will lead to 5-6 new chips being posted in this thread.

Sounds like an awesome trip Wezvidz. I have had those issues crossing the boarder too, I just show them the chips and they usually seem quite confused why someone would do this but eventually let me go without being searched.

Quote: wezvidz

...Stopped at Presque Isle Downs in Erie PA, a horsetrack casino and since it had been a 2 hour drive from Mountaineer in WV decided to sit at the one open bartop for a little VP. Here's another nugget: no Game King machines, I don't know what these are but it feels like I'm playing a VP simulator on the computer (I was told these are Bally's machines)...

I wonder if the Game Kings were all taken out after their "Double Up" programming hole that allowed players who hit a jackpot playing small coins to collect the same jackpot at higher denominations was uncovered?

Whaaaaat? Was this in Erie specifically? Details on the bug?

Quote: wezvidz

etails on the bug?

http://www.wired.com/2014/10/cheating-video-poker/

The actual details of the bug are in a gaming commission report, which I am currently unable to find. Short of it: game king, multi-game, I believe multi-denomination must be enabled, and the double-up feature must be enabled. Bug allows player to hit a payout at a low denomination, change denomination, then when re-entering the game it triggers a handpay.

It's probably cheating, the courts are likely to determine it's fraud, and it's now a known move.

Also, the bug has been patched for a while, so you'll need to find really old machines that haven't been updated.

Category: Canada
City: Calgary, Alberta
Casino: Stampede

Today's chip of the day is from Stampede Casino in Calgary Alberta. Stampede Casino opened in 1988. The Casino is located downtown right next to the stampede grounds. The casino had over 350 slot machines and 30 tables games including BJ, Roulette, Craps, Baccarat, Pai Gow, Pai Gow Tiles, Ultimate Texas Holdem and EZ Bac. As well the casino had a 13 table poker room. On June 14, 2012 the casino went through a name change, tomorrow's chip of the day will be that casino.

The chip is the same model as the Casinos of Winnipeg chip. The chip is blue with 4 white/baby blue/white edge inserts. The centre inlay is white with the chip denomination in red and the casino name in black. There are also 4 white "1"s around the inlay.

A very clean chip. It has to have the plainest insert we've seen yet. They didn't even spring for lower case letters.

Category: Canada
City: Calgary, Alberta
Casino: Cowboys

Well this is my second post in less than three hours but technically spanning two days so here is the chip of the day post for Saturday, June 20. Today's chip of the day comes from Cowboys Casino in Calgary Alberta, which is the former Stampede Casino. The name change/rebranding took affect on June 14, 2012. Not much changed when the casino was rebranded. The gaming stayed the same, the changes occurred in the restaurants and dance club.

The chip is blue plastic with 3 double stepped edge inserts. The inner ones are grey, while the outer are grey/baby blue/grey. The centre inlay has an orange background with the Cowboys Casino logo, and yes the image on the chip is as cheap as it looks in the picture. The location is in black and the denomination is in grey around the inlay.

I am headed out on my chip collecting/help my sister move trip in about six hours. I will try to post chips if I find time but an everyday posting won't begin again until I get back on July 4th.

Also not sure if you all know this or not but a new Wild Rose Casino is opening August 1st in Jefferson, IA. The other two are in Clinton and Emmetsburg.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Today's chip of the day is from Stampede Casino in Calgary Alberta. Stampede Casino opened in 1988. The Casino is located downtown right next to the stampede grounds.

Thanks for posting the new chips and bringing the thread fully back on topic, PokerGrinder. What can you tell us about "the stampede grounds"? Sounds like maybe another name for a rodeo arena???

Not sure if PG will have time to reply to your question Doc. Stampede is the traditional name in Canada for what in the US is called a rodeo. The older (50 to 100 years runninging annually) events in Canada are pretty much all called stampedes. Many of the events that started in the late 20th century use the Rodeo label. The associations that oversee the events also use the term rodeo ie Canadian Rodeo Association.

To get back to the specifics on the Calgary Stampede it is the largest stampede(rodeo) in the world and has the grounds, grandstands, midway and agricultural fair etc. that you would expect. It runs for a week with huge pays of up to 6 figures for the cowboys and attracts the best in the world. It runs during what they call cowboy christmas which covers the Canadian July 1 celebration and the American July 4 holiday. There are dozens of major rodeos in a two week period on both sides of the border then, with cowboys driving and flying all over the west.

The casino is actually on the stampede grounds as is the Saddledome the home of the Calgary Flames NHL hockey team. The stampede also has all the things that you would associate with a state fair such as concerts by major stars at the Saddledome as well as lots of free musical entertainment around the grounds.

The Calgary Stampede was the orginator of the chuck wagon races which you may have heard of since they receive some notoriety every year as the, past their prime, thoroughbred horses that pull the wagons are sometimes injured during the race and get put down from the injuries.

Probably more stampede information than you were looking for but my local 89th annual Williams Lake Stampede starts next weekend and the is start of cowboy xmas so I am in stampede mode.

Quote: kenarman

Not sure if PG will have time to reply to your question Doc. Stampede is the traditional name in Canada for what in the US is called a rodeo. The older (50 to 100 years runninging annually) events in Canada are pretty much all called stampedes. Many of the events that started in the late 20th century use the Rodeo label. The associations that oversee the events also use the term rodeo ie Canadian Rodeo Association.

To get back to the specifics on the Calgary Stampede it is the largest stampede(rodeo) in the world and has the grounds, grandstands, midway and agricultural fair etc. that you would expect. It runs for a week with huge pays of up to 6 figures for the cowboys and attracts the best in the world. It runs during what they call cowboy christmas which covers the Canadian July 1 celebration and the American July 4 holiday. There are dozens of major rodeos in a two week period on both sides of the border then, with cowboys driving and flying all over the west.

The casino is actually on the stampede grounds as is the Saddledome the home of the Calgary Flames NHL hockey team. The stampede also has all the things that you would associate with a state fair such as concerts by major stars at the Saddledome as well as lots of free musical entertainment around the grounds.

The Calgary Stampede was the orginator of the chuck wagon races which you may have heard of since they receive some notoriety every year as the, past their prime, thoroughbred horses that pull the wagons are sometimes injured during the race and get put down from the injuries.

Probably more stampede information than you were looking for but my local 89th annual Williams Lake Stampede starts next weekend and the is start of cowboy xmas so I am in stampede mode.

What he said lol. Thanks Kenarman, I couldn't have said that better myself. Amazed at the detail!

I collected my chip from the Canadian Sault Ste Marie casino last night and all I have to say is wow. The casino really went all out for the $1 chips. Pretty sure they bought them at Walmart lol. I don't have a camera to take a picture and post it for you guys but MOGH has a picture if anyone wants to see what I'm talking about. Off to Casino Rama in a couple mins.

Some random info I thought you all might be interested in.

Going to Vegas in July and was thinking of renting a car to hit the last 2 casinos in the greater LV area that I don't have chips from for my collection. Called both today:

1) Searchlight Nugget - NO LONGER TABLE GAMES. New owners, closed permanently. Last time I passed through on my way to Laughlin 2 years ago I passed on getting a token since then didn't have chips, now I regret it. Might have to "cheat" and buy one online since I've been inside the establishment (the rule of my collection, I've visited all of the ~350 casinos I have chips for).

2) Stagecoach in Beatty - table games are 7 days/week, open around 3pm and close at 9pm if no players around. Poker Wed-Sat if there are players. I may still drive up there the Saturday I'm in town arriving 5-6pm so I can take advantage of either the poker or blackjack being open. Would hate to drive 2 hours and see everything closed without being able to collect a chip.

FYI. I'll also have 9 new Florida chips to contribute in August after a Jacksonville area trip involving 2 casino cruises.


Any new casinos in the greater LV area open in the last year or two? Trying to justify renting a $60 car from MSS Advantage for a day just to drive to Stagecoach and back.

Quote: wezvidz

Any new casinos in the greater LV area open in the last year or two?

I can't recall -- do you have one from SLS? I think that's my most recent one from LV.

I'm on my way home now from a MS, LA, AR trip with 7 new chips, 3 of which are not yet represented in the thread. I'll post them soon. I also learned of a new MS Casino to open by the end of the year.

I'm interesting in seeing what chips we've missed from the MS/LA/AR area.. can't wait to see.

Is the new casino the Scarlet Pearl near Biloxi?

I got the SLS. Just bought a Searchlight Nugget token for $4.76 total on eBay which includes shipping, seems reasonable.

Quote: wezvidz

Any new casinos in the greater LV area open in the last year or two? Trying to justify renting a $60 car from MSS Advantage for a day just to drive to Stagecoach and back.

How do you treat name changes? Terribles to Triple 7? Bills to Cromwell? Aliente Station to Aliente Hotel and Casino? Hilton to Westgate? Quad to Linq? Have you been to the Margaritaville inside Flamingo?

Quote: Doc

I also learned of a new MS Casino to open by the end of the year.

Ah, crap. The fiancee's gonna kill me...

How did your trip end up?

Got them all. Except Margaritaville. Every time I've asked Flamingo or Margaritaville game tables or cage, they have Flamingo chips only.

Quote: rdw4potus

Ah, crap. The fiancee's gonna kill me...

How did your trip end up?

As wezvidz surmised, the new casino is indeed the Scarlet Pearl, to be located in D'Iberville, across the bay from Biloxi. Allegedly, it's to open for New Year's Eve, but if everything is built, I suspect they will have a soft opening a little earlier. When we get to meet your fiancee, I'll try to get my Mrs. to explain to her that tagging along on a chip-collecting excursion is just a life style and you can learn to tolerate it.

How did my trip end up? Well, to bring everyone else up to date on how it began... I have already explained to rdw that at the first casino I visited, I lost my entire craps buy-in without ever seeing a point made. A real downer. Then, after visiting casinos in LA, I said I had finally figured out why they called the whole state Lose-iana.

Our last stop did not involve chip collecting. We spent Sunday night in Tunica and met a couple of local friends to go to the Balagan Circus that was performing at Gold Strike. I had two sessions at the craps table, one in the afternoon and one fairly late at night after the show. The first session was breakeven -- pretty good considering the pattern, except that my wife got all over my case for spending too much time at the table when we were supposed to be checking into the hotel and getting ready to meet our friends.

The tide really turned for the late session. I wound up winning enough to make up for all of the earlier losses and give net favorable gambling results for the entire trip!

Quote: wezvidz

... Every time I've asked Flamingo or Margaritaville game tables or cage, they have Flamingo chips only.

I had the same problem. When I explained that I was a collector, the person at the cage checked with a supervisor and still said they had none. She said if I left my name they would keep an eye out for one, and I should come back in a few days. I did return a few days later. She checked in the back office and came back with one for me. I don't know whether it was true that they kept an eye out for one or perhaps they have a very few held aside and let me have one as a reward for persistence. You might ask to see what they would do for you.

Just a heads up for collectors:

Plaza now has 5,25, and 100 dollar denomination chips featuring the one and only Oscar Goodman. Not sure how long the run will be but they seem to imply it will be limited.

Edit: put correct amounts for chips.

Hey Doc if it works for you, I will start posting chip of the day again on July 4th. Lmk if this is ok with you.

That sounds fine, PokerGrinder. I have a few that I can post now through the 3rd and will save my other one until after you complete your set. Before beginning new chips of the day, though, I want to post a few from casinos that have already been covered in this thread.

In April 2014, rdw4potus posted his $5 chip from the Margaritaville Casino in Bossier City, LA. I finally made it back to Bossier City last Saturday and picked up the souvenir $1 chip shown below. Paulson RHC mold with three edge inserts. The colors are reproduced reasonably accurately this time, except the pinkish edge insert is really a little more purple.

If the "Nothin' but a breeze" slogan on the second side is a Jimmy Buffet line, I don't recognize it. Is it from one of his songs? That second side also has some extremely fine print that I can't make out even with a rather strong magnifying glass. Right below the beach hut is the word "Relax." Hidden in the stripe below that is "in (something-or-other)". The something-or-other might be "Paradise", but I'm not at all sure. Does anyone recognize "Relax in ____" as a Jimmy Buffet line?

UV light reveals the repeated name of the casino on both sides of the chip, with the rather common error we have learned to look for.



In September 2013, rdw4potus posted his $5 chip from the Golden Nugget Casino in Biloxi, MS. I also finally made it back to Biloxi on the same trip and collected the $1 chip shown below. This is a Paulson house mold chip with Golden Nugget and (twice) the block GN logo molded into the perimeter. Colors are reproduced accurately, I think. UV light reveals the Paulson hat and cane logo and the repeated GN script logo. No, they don't seem to have the G and the N swapped in any of them.



In July 2014, wezvidz posted a $1 chip from the Harrah's Gulf Coast Casino, the former Grand Biloxi. It is the Paulson RHC mold. I picked up an identical chip last week and am posting it here because wezvidz only showed us one side of the chip and did not have the UV images. UV light reveals the repeated name of the casino, and I couldn't find the "error" the first time I looked. (It's there all right, I just missed it.)



Tonight, I will try to post a new Casino Chip of the Day gathered on this same trip.

RE: Nothin' But a Breeze, J. Buffett (written by J. Winchester)

Here ya go, Doc:



I luvs me some Jimmy!

Thanks, Babs!

State: Arkansas
City: Hot Springs
Casino: Oaklawn Park

The State of Arkansas has a total of two casinos. I can't really make fun of that, since that is double the number of casinos we have in my home state of North Carolina, though we expect to catch up in that count in just a few months.

Both of the Arkansas casinos are co-located with race tracks and are primarily slot parlors with some electronic table games. That is just about the kind of casino they had at Harrah's Cherokee in NC (without any sort of track) before Harrah's expanded and got real table games a few years ago. The Southland Park facility includes a dog track, while Oaklawn has horse racing.

When I posted my chip from Southland Park in September 2012, I described the blackjack game this way:

Quote: Doc

The blackjack game is the iTable from Shufflemaster, where a live dealer deals real cards from a shoe that reads the cards as they are dealt, entering the info into the table's computer system. A cash buy-in results in credits appearing on the table-top touch screen in front of the player, where wagers and hit/stand/insurance/double/split decisions are entered. When a player leaves the table, chips are used to pay out the balance of credits, and that appears to be the only use for the chips. It seems that a TITO printout and a redemption kiosk would be more efficient than issuing chips to be carried over to the cashier cage or another table, but then they would never get someone like me into their place even for a first visit.

It seems that someone at Oaklawn must have been thinking that same way about TITO vs. chips. In September 2013, rdw4potus visited Oaklawn and made a post to this thread that included this comment:

Quote: rdw4potus

But there is one important point that I want to make in this thread, as it pertains primarily to chip collecting. I was at Oaklawn yesterday. Unlike Southland Park, which does currently use chips, Oaklawn has a fully electronic system. Cashout at Oaklawn is done by ticket. So, if anyone is thinking of going to the middle of Arkansas to visit a wonderful and historic track that happens to have a casino, know that there are no chips to collect there.

After reading that, I immediately deleted Oaklawn from my list of "Chips I Might Get". Then about a month ago, while I was planning my recent trip, I checked the Oaklawn web site and saw a claim of "real chips." I wasn't really convinced, so I called the casino and spoke to a pit supervisor who described their system as exactly like what I had seen at Southland Park. Whoops, change the trip itinerary!

I visited Oaklawn in Hot Springs just a few hours after leaving the Margaritaville casino in Bossier City, LA. I saw the blackjack iTable games with minimums from $10 to $50, but I didn't check for any rule differences. I played the $10 game for about 20 minutes and cashed in $25 less than my buy-in while also keeping $6 worth of chips. While keeping the usual $1 souvenir chip for myself, I also kept a $5 one to pass along to rdw4potus for his collection the next time we are able to get together.

Both chips are shown below. They are both Paulson RHC chips with the usual base color for each denomination. The $5 chip is more red and less orange than it appears in the photo. The $1 chip has four edge inserts, two each in olive and brown (yes, more brown and less "rust" than they appear here.) The $5 chip has what I think is an unusual combination of edge inserts: four triangular inserts in medium blue and four very narrow inserts in black. The center inlays are identical except for edge coloring and the denomination marking. Each shows four jockeys, the casino name, notations of "Racing" and "Gaming", and the city and state.

UV light reveals the same hidden image on both chips, just the repeated "Oaklawn". Now this one really took me a while to find the hidden "error". Have a look for yourself.