Casino Chip of the Day

They wend all out with that, too. "expansion complete. Cluck yeah!" etc.

Last November, Arkansas passed a constitutional amendment that greatly expanded what they allowed in terms of casino gambling. At least it does in four counties, with (potentially) one casino in each.

Previously, there was only Southland Park Gaming and Racing in West Memphis (a combination of dog racing and limited electronic gaming) and Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs (a similar facility except with horses doing the racing instead of dogs). I have previously posted my souvenir chips from these two establishments. In both I played electronic blackjack at tables where they converted the departing players' electronic credits into chips to take to the cashier.

The constitutional amendment allowed each of these facilities to expand their gaming activities substantially as of April of this year, and construction projects are either underway or about to start in both locations for additional facilities. Both have changed their names and are now Southland Casino and Racing and Oaklawn Racing Casino, if I haven't gotten some minor detail confused.

Casinos were also authorized in two other locations, one each in Jefferson County and Pope County, with applications to be submitted in May for consideration at a June meeting of the Arkansas Racing Commission. In Jefferson County, the proposed Saracen Casino was approved earlier this month for a location in Pine Bluff. Opening is projected (by some) for mid-2020. This facility will be owned by the Quapaw Nation, which operates two tribal casinos in Oklahoma.

The situation in Pope County is a bit more complex. There were five proposals submitted to the commission but all were rejected at the recent meeting. It seems that the amendment requires that the proposals be endorsed by the local government, either the mayor or judge, and none of the proposals had such supporting documents (though one included an endorsement by a judge who had already left office). That lack of support by local officials is likely because the voters in Pope County had voted against the constitutional amendment. "Don't go building your dang casino in my back yard!" I have no idea how/when that stuff will get worked out, if ever.

My question today relates to the Southland Casino and a bit to the Oaklawn Racing Casino. They started up their expanded operations on April 1, including real blackjack, craps, roulette, and numerous other games. However, I have not been able to figure out whether they have introduced new chips with the revised names of the establishments. I'm thinking about this because there is a possibility that my wife and I will visit Mississippi before the end of the summer, including picking up a chip I am missing from Tunica, and it wouldn't take much of a detour to visit West Memphis if there were a new collectible to warrant such an excursion.

Before I make that jaunt, I can/will call the casino, but I thought I would check to see whether anyone here already knows the answer. I doubt I will head out to Oaklawn until after one or even two brand new facilities are open farther west in the state.

I suggest you PM Mikey75 about Southland. He plays in the area, and I bet he will know.

Well my thumb and pointer finger are numb so you all know what that means... I cleaned my new chips! I'm taking pictures of them now and I will post a chip of the day tonight before I go to bed.

These are all chips that I collected that have been posted as a chip of the day. Only Tachi Palace and Terrible's are the same chips that have been posted I believe.



On second thought I'm tired, CotD tomorrow.

(Doc doesn't believe me)

FYI I have 18 chips to post.

Club One is dark blue not black btw.

Quote: PokerGrinder

(Doc doesn't believe me)

Why would I ever be skeptical of such a thing?


;-)

Quote: Doc

Southland Park Gaming and Racing in West Memphis.... Southland Casino and Racing....
However, I have not been able to figure out whether they have introduced new chips with the revised name....

Quote: beachbumbabs

I suggest you PM Mikey75 about Southland. He plays in the area, and I bet he will know.

I did as suggested, but Mikey75 didn't know the answer. I did break down and call the casino a few minutes ago, and I was assured that they do, indeed, have chips in play with the new name and got rid of the old ones.

Now to decide whether to really make a trip to MS and AR this summer. I had received mailers with promo free nights at Beau Rivage and Gold Strike, but by the time I made my initial call this weekend, they said that the promo rooms (even out in early August) had all been taken – though I could get one by paying for it. I think they were trying to say something about my usual level of play and how little it is worth to them.

Crap you’re telling me I have to go back to Arkansas? Nobody should have to go to Arkansas twice in a lifetime lol.

I suggest that you consider waiting until new casinos are operating in both Pope and Jefferson counties and then visit all four AR casinos on the same trip in order to minimize your exposure. My recollections suggest that I have been in Arkansas three times in my life, once while driving homeward after being discharged from the Army and once each to collect the two AR chips that I have posted in this thread, Southland Park and Oaklawn Park.

I am now leaning more heavily toward making a visit to West Memphis again this summer, combined with a stop in Tunica, but I haven't thoroughly thought through (Isn't that an annoying trio of words to have appear in sequence?) whether I want to drive round trip, 180+ miles each way, to pick up a chip from Oaklawn in Hot Springs on this same visit to that fabulous state. If I survive long enough, I will probably make one more visit to include Pope and Jefferson Counties, and those three destinations are not too far apart.

I guess I have been to Arkansas twice since I visited those two “casinos” on different trips. I will wait, I guess not really wait but I’m not going to be in that area of the country any time in the near future.

In other news I forgot how annoying it is to figure out what casinos actually exist in Asian countries. I’m doing some planning for a trip to the Philippines and geez there are a lot of maybes.

State: Nevada
City: Gardnerville
Casino: Wa She Shu

For the 3rd straight year I have a complete Nevada collection again!!

Today's chip of the day is from Wa She Shu Casino in Gardnerville, Nevada. Wa She Shu added 2 BJ tables in January which is what prompted me to visit again (drove by it without stopping two years ago). I had some bad information that the tables opened at 5 when they actually opened at 2. It would have been nice to know this so I could have been in Vegas earlier than 1 am. The casino has 130 slot machines and the 2 previously mentioned BJ tables.

I played BJ for about 20 minutes and won $35. I don't think they get much play on BJ because their tables opened in January but there chips are still quite sharp and brand new looking. One weird hand the dealer peaked for an ace but didn't see one, one player stood, another busted and then I busted. The dealer flips her undercard and shows BJ. She calls the pit who apologizes and gives the busted hands our money back and ends the hand. I told her that was the most player friendly ruling that I had ever seen. Her reasoning was they made the mistake, I laughed and said but you had BJ you would have won either way. They gave me a t-shirt for being there that day, I donated it to a homeless shelter in Winnipeg.

The chip is a white Paulson RHC with 4 grey/brown edge inserts. The centre inlay is white with the casino logo, name, location and chip denomination all in black. The logo has 2 triangles with a bunch of people holding hands in a circle.



I have 17 chips to post from California.

State: California
City: Tracy
Casino: Stars

Today's chip of the day is from Stars Casino in Tracy, California. Stars is a small card room with 8 table games. I lost $160 here chasing my losses for about 40 minutes on double deck blackjack. Stars was using $1 chips from the old Comstock Casino so I kept a $5 chip, this was the only $5 chip that I kept on this trip. The room wasn't very full on the day that I visited. There was one guy going game to game betting $100's per hand on all the games. I even watched him playing baccarat without knowing how the game worked.

The chip is yellow with 12 black edge inserts. The centre inlay is black with a red and yellow casino logo with the name in white over top of it. The denomination and location are both white.

And thanks for your Casino Chip of the Week post!

;-)

Quote: Doc

And thanks for your Casino Chip of the Week post!

;-)

Your welcome, stay tuned for next week's post.

State: California
City: Manteca
Casino: Real

Today's chip of the day is from Casino Real in Manteca, California. Casino Real has 13 table games/poker tables. I have almost no recollection of this card room and the one memory I do have might or might not be from this establishment. If I remember correctly I played at a full BJ table, actually never mind this memory is wrong because I only played a few hands in this memory but my notes say I won $56 at Casino Real... soooo ya I've got nothing. Senility is a bi*ch and so is my ex :P

The chip is a yellow LCV with 4 pink edge inserts. The centre inlay is half white, half yellow and textured. The casino name, denomination and casino location are black.

So how do I say this politely?

PG, I really appreciate all of the chips (and stories) that you contribute to this thread (in spite of my grumbling about how long it sometimes takes for you to get around to posting stuff!) But in this instance, I have to point out that rdw4potus already covered this card room in this post some five and a half years ago, i.e., a year and a half before you joined our forum.

So thanks, but I will not be adding this one to the index, where the card room is already listed as "Casino Real".

BTW, with my extremely limited knowledge of Spanish, I have to think that "Casino Real" is some kind of play on words based on "El Camino Real".

I’m going to go with oops.

I suspect that has to do with issues of "How do we list this casino?" You have this one listed as "Real", while it was indexed for the thread as "Casino Real". If you bothered to look at the index, this one might have hidden from you. There are several other California casinos listed as "Casino ____", but there have been times I thought including that word was unnecessary.

That’s exactly what happened. I just figured you would list this as Real not Casino Real but you lack any consistency (totally kidding).

Quote: PokerGrinder

That’s exactly what happened. I just figured you would list this as Real not Casino Real but you lack any consistency (totally kidding).

LOL! Feel free to keep blaming doc. That works for me. But I think it's listed as it is because I discussed the naming in my post. My conclusion was that "real" needed to modify something so "casino" was needed.

Quote: rdw4potus

LOL! Feel free to keep blaming doc. That works for me. But I think it's listed as it is because I discussed the naming in my post. My conclusion was that "real" needed to modify something so "casino" was needed.

"Real" is a noun, no? Doesn't it translate in this context as "Royal" or "Actual"?

Quote: Ayecarumba

"Real" is a noun, no? Doesn't it translate in this context as "Royal" or "Actual"?

Are those not adjectives?

State: California
City: Ione
Casino: Harrah's Northern California

Today's chip of the day is from Harrah's Northern California in Ione, California. Saying the casino is in Ione is a bit of a stretch as it is 6 miles south of Ione. I think we have all found this from time to time with casinos in the middle of nowhere. Harrah's Northern California opened on April 29, 2019 for a soft opening and they had their grand opening on May 17 a few days after I visited the casino. Harrah's has 950 slot machines and 20 tables games or at least that is what Casinocity lists. I'm pretty sure that they had more than 20 tables on the main floor and I assume they had a high limit room somewhere.

I played card craps for only the second time ever, the crew had a dead table and was recruiting me to play with them. I looked around and found that all the table games had high minimums except the craps table so I went back for a little game of card craps. It is so weird to roll dice and then have to look for the corresponding cards to figure out what your roll value is. It was fun because the crew was fun but I am not a fan of card craps. I won $40 and tipped the dealers a few times since they made the gaming experience a lot of fun.

The chip is white with 2 green/black/green edge inserts. The centre inlay is purple with all the writing in white. This chip is in very good condition due to the lack of play it got before I took it from the casino.

Challenge time....

I think PokerGrinder may still be planning his next chip-collecting trip to Asia, and I very-highly doubt that I will ever visit a casino on that continent. I am, however, in the process of planning a couple of chip-collecting trips much closer to home.

I may have already described one of those trips, which will definitely be taking place during September. That one is a cruise that we already have booked. The other trip will be a driving trip for which I have been trying to select stops and generate a set of route maps to help in deciding how much to take on for each day. The way I have it sketched out at this point, my wife has not completely rejected the concept, and she even seems reasonably amenable to this itinerary. We are considering making that trip some time in August, if conflicts don't arise.

If we complete that driving trip as it is currently planned, I will add 25 new chips to my collection but (I think) only 4 new ones for this thread. I thought I would mention this trip plan and open up the guessing from folks as to where we might be visiting by car from North Carolina. Let's just start with guesses as to what states/provinces/countries (Is that sufficiently inclusive?) the casinos are located in.

Off the top of my head the only one I can think of is 1st Jackpot.

Well, here's a little hint/teaser about one of the new casino chips that I might get to post in this thread.

In 2013, rdw4potus made a CCotD post about a casino that I had never visited. I did get to visit that casino in 2016 and collected a souvenir chip. Recently, I have learned (from the MoGH chip guide and from CasinoCity.com) that the casino has changed names and has chips with the new name. Had to add that place to my list of chips to get, and thus far no one else has made a CCotD post about that re-named casino.

As I started working on plans to add that casino to my itinerary for this tentative, upcoming, chip-collecting trip, I visited the casino's web site. There, I was shocked to see that apparently the place has changed names once again -- their whole web site uses this newest name. And neither MoGH nor CasinoCity seem to have heard about the change.

I haven't confirmed whether they have a new set of chips yet or not. To be honest, I don't know whether I should be hoping they are using chips with the "now-out-of-date new" name or chips with the "brand-new" name. I'd like to be able to add to my collection chips with both of those new names.

Ok I’m stumped. I just spent 10 minutes in the index trying to figure out before I gave up.

You're driving from Charlotte to Wisconsin and Michigan, with a stop in Southern Indiana?

So what is in southern Indiana that should interest me now? I know that the Former Horseshoe Southern Indiana is to become Caesars Southern Indiana, but what I read was that the casino was expected to open under the new name this coming December, with other amenities open in 2020. If you have different info, please let me know -- I might need to update my plans!

I don't think I have been to Wisconsin since about 1997, when we drove through the state on our way to take our younger son to a high school forensics competition in Minneapolis. As a result, perhaps, I have no Wisconsin chips at all in my collection. Even though there are likely a number of candidates for me to pursue there, I have no plans to go to that state this year -- perhaps when I visit the Michigan upper peninsula, as you have suggested a few times, but neither of those will happen this year. (Maybe never.)

And PG, "stumping" you was part of the reason for the teaser.

Don't leave us hanging, give us your trip plans.

State: California
City: Oroville
Casino: Gold Country

Today's chip of the day is from |Gold Country Casino in Oroville, California. Gold Country Casino opened in 1996 and has 950 slot machines and 15 table games. I signed up for a club card and they gave me an assortment of stuff, most of which I threw away. I used the $5 for the cafe as it was 10 pm and I hadn't eaten yet due to my collecting schedule taking longer than I planned. RDW will back me up on this, that never happnes :P I played my FP and then went to the BJ table where I had a coupon for a suited BJ pays double. The dealer paid it on my first win so I just went with it, I walked away from the casino up $20 and a sandwich.

The chip is a white SCV with only 2 hat and canes and the casino name is etched around the chip. I don't know if I have ever seen both of these features on one chip. The chip has 6 edge inserts, 3 brown and 3 gold. The centre inlay is white with the casino logo and name taking up the majority of it. The logo which is hard to see is a bear coming out of a dream catcher. The denomination and casino location are gold.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Don't leave us hanging, give us your trip plans.

To get to 26, this has to look like a drive through Tunica, through AR, into OK?

Ahh! I love the speculation! It gives us something to chat about between CCotD postings.

CasinoCity.com suggests that there are 134 casinos in OK, not counting the bingo halls, OTB parlors, and tracks that they have listed. And I don't have a chip from any of them. Sounds like fertile hunting grounds, except I have read so many derogatory comments presented in this forum about the OK casinos that I haven't had any motivation to plan a trip out there. Have my readings instilled an unjustified bias?

For the past couple of decades, we have planned our domestic travels to involve transportation via our own car for anything east of the Mississippi River and short distances beyond, with anything more distant (i.e., Vegas, San Diego, etc.) to include flying to the area and renting a car there. I think our extreme western drive from home took us about 60 miles west of the MO-KA border, when I picked up a chip from the Sac & Fox casino in Powhattan, KA.

I think there are likely a dozen OK casinos that lie farther east than that "extreme" point, but they haven't drawn my interest yet. I don't really know how I would choose to travel if I ever decided to try to collect chips from all around OK and KA. Drive beyond my normal boundaries? Fly and rent a car? Just dunno. In any case, neither OK nor KA is on my draft list for the upcoming trip.

Oklahoma casinos are very smoky and the slot machine noises are beyond irritating but where there is a chip to collect I will most likely go.

Hmm... Maybe going north to Boston/NY/Niagra?

He’s done too many of those casinos, it wouldn’t add 25 to his collection.

Quote: PokerGrinder

He’s done too many of those casinos, it wouldn’t add 25 to his collection.

Wait, would it? Name changes in PA, ON, and NY. New casino in MA. Name change in MD and I guess in OH depending on the route. might be 25 there that're possible.

Quote: rdw4potus

Wait, would it? Name changes in PA, ON, and NY. New casino in MA. Name change in MD and I guess in OH depending on the route. might be 25 there that're possible.

And Atlantic City has a casino that's changed names a few times recently...

Quote: rdw4potus

Wait, would it? Name changes in PA, ON, and NY. New casino in MA. Name change in MD and I guess in OH depending on the route. might be 25 there that're possible.

Can’t be Ontario that would add more than 4 to the chip thread.

Remember 25 to his collection but only 4 to this thread.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Can’t be Ontario that would add more than 4 to the chip thread.

Remember 25 to his collection but only 4 to this thread.

But only some are on this path, right? Driving around lake Ontario hits Brantford, Belleville, 1000 islands...

Edit: you know Doc is sitting there laughing at us, right?

Quote: rdw4potus

But only some are on this path, right? Driving around lake Ontario hits Brantford, Belleville, 1000 islands...

Edit: you know Doc is sitting there laughing at us, right?

Oh I know that! I’m just willing to play along because I have nothing better to do.

Quote: rdw4potus

Name change in MD and I guess in OH depending on the route.

Now you've got me curious again. Last name change I heard about in MD was when Maryland Live! became just plain Live!. I picked up that chip last October and posted it here.

As for Ohio, I know it was announced in April that Jack Casino in Cincinnati is being sold, but what I read was that the sale was expected to close in late 2019, so I don't expect new souvenirs to be available there just yet.

Of course, if I'm out of date on the info, please let me know so I can adjust my plans!

OK. You guys have been pretty good sports about this set of teaser posts, so I'll go ahead and let you know the current plans. Behind the spoiler buttons below are (1) the "approximate" map of the portion of our trip while I will be collecting chips and (2) the list of casinos where I anticipate adding a chip to my collection.

We will begin by driving from home to Tunica (Robinsonville), MS. That portion of the route is not shown. We expect to be staying a couple of nights there, likely at the Gold Strike. I already have a Gold Strike chip from years ago, but that is the only place in town that seems to want to offer me any sort of promos. We expect to be visiting with friends who live in the area and not necessarily spending much time on the casino floor there. Guess that's why the casinos don't offer me much in the way of promos. From Tunica, we will head north.

The map behind the spoiler button is "approximate" because Google Maps will only allow me to designate 10 locations on a single map route. This approximation should be adequate to indicate roughly where we will be going from Tunica all the way (barely) out of the country.


At the northern-most point shown on the route, we will have crossed into Ontario, but only a smidgen across the border to the casino I hinted about before -- the one that has apparently changed names twice since I was there, with the Chip Guide and CasinoCity.com not reporting the latest name change that appears on the casino's web site. When I was putting the map together, GoogleMaps didn't seem to know about the new name. As I started typing this paragraph, I checked again, and they do have the new name on the map now.

From there, we will slip right back into the USA and head south to Detroit. There I will pick up a chip from a casino where I have already played in 2016 -- I collected a chip then but lost it somewhere before I got home, so I need to stop by again. From Detroit, we expect to head on home.

In the list behind the button below, I think the four casinos marked with asterisks will offer chips new to this thread, in each case because the casino has changed names.

Well I got the 1st Jackpot correct...

Missed it by that much...

You appear to be missing the four winds in south bend, in. That probably needs to fit in this trip & it's barely out of the mapped path.

Also, this sets you up perfectly for a subsequent trip to Michigan and Wisconsin...:-)

Quote: rdw4potus

You appear to be missing the four winds in south bend, in. That probably needs to fit in this trip & it's barely out of the mapped path.

Also, this sets you up perfectly for a subsequent trip to Michigan and Wisconsin...:-)

They don’t have table games, only poker.

State: California
City: Oroville
Casino: Feather Falls

Today's chip of the day is from Feather Falls Casino in Oroville, California. Feather Falls opened in 1996 and has 850 slot machines and 23 table games. As I said in my TR from spring fling I have no recollection of being in this casino but I have the chip so I must have been there.

The chip is white with 6 grey edge inserts. The insert is silver with a white border. The casino name is printed around the silver centre twice in black. Inside the silver circle is a giant "F" with a feather through it and the denomination in black. The other side of the chip has a different inlay. There is a red background with the casino name in white over top of it. The chip have A10 of hearts and 3 poker chips for no apparent reason.

Quote: PokerGrinder

They don’t have table games, only poker.

Exactly! I know that you are a poker player and that sometimes rdw4potus plays the game, but I haven't played since a $1/$2 limit game of Texas Hold 'em at the very first of the WoVCon gatherings (predecessors to the Spring Flings) in 2011. That was the day that I met rdw4potus, and that was my first (maybe 2nd) poker game since 1978. Back in the '70s, some of my coworkers and I got together occasionally and played dealer's-choice poker using chips that literally represented nickels, dimes, and quarters. Definitely a social gaming experience.

Thus, because of a rather low interest in that game (and no skill at all), I don't collect chips from the casinos that only offer poker. Also, I haven't collected from the California card rooms, even though I played in a few while on a work trip back in 2003. I checked into the games at Four Winds South Bend as part of planning this trip, since I had included three other casinos with the Four Winds name, but this one didn't seem to be a casino for me.

And BTW, PG, thanks for not letting this little teaser discussion get in the way of the real purpose of this thread! I do appreciate the recent series of chip posts. Pretty sure that chip from Feather Falls was made by Gemaco (now part of Gaming Partners International, which as of two months ago is itself a subsidiary of Angel Holdings Godo Kaisha).