Casino Chip of the Day

Quote: PokerGrinder

I think Doc usually waits until the new chip is posted to fix the old one.

Not sure that I completely understand the exchange between PokerGrinder and alpha1243. If alpha is saying that PokerGrinder did not present the complete name of the facility in Dallas in his post back in May 2022 and if PokerGrinder agrees and edits his 20-month-old post to show the "correct" name, then I will update the index. If there is (as appears to be) a similar chip from an establishment in Austin, then perhaps someone should post a new CCotD entry so that I can add that one to the index, too.

In the interim, I've just added the Bugz's Bar and Casino chip post to the index.

Quote: Hunterhill

Pokergrinder , I really enjoy reading your trip reports. Don’t have the energy to travel like I used to. You seem like you’re on the go nonstop.
link to original post

I haven’t done a trip report for the last few big trips and my family complained so I said I’d do one this time.

Btw sometimes it does feel like I’m on the move nonstop.

Quote: Doc

Quote: PokerGrinder

I think Doc usually waits until the new chip is posted to fix the old one.

Not sure that I completely understand the exchange between PokerGrinder and alpha1243. If alpha is saying that PokerGrinder did not present the complete name of the facility in Dallas in his post back in May 2022 and if PokerGrinder agrees and edits his 20-month-old post to show the "correct" name, then I will update the index. If there is (as appears to be) a similar chip from an establishment in Austin, then perhaps someone should post a new CCotD entry so that I can add that one to the index, too.

In the interim, I've just added the Bugz's Bar and Casino chip post to the index.
link to original post

Basically there are two Poker House card rooms now, one in Dallas and on in Austin. When I posted mine the Austin one didn’t exist. It’s similar to when we have let’s say two Jack Casinos in Ohio.

Quote: Dieter

Have we seen that Poker Montana design before?
That particular shade of huckleberry seems awfully familiar.

Show Spoiler

As a machine player, I love that stupid $800 limit.

link to original post

I think I have that chip, but the post isn't in the index. I'll search a little. Perhaps I forgot to post it?

State: California
City: Bell Gardens
Casino: Parkwest Bicycle

Today’s chip of the day is from the Parkwest Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, California. The Bicycle Casino or “The bike” as most people call it opened in 1984 with 104 table games and poker tables. In April of 2022 the casino was purchased by Parkwest Casinos and renamed. The current property has 185 table games and poker tables. I was doing some casino stuff north of Los Angeles in December so the closest airport to fly out of was LAX. I had an early flight so if I wanted a chip from this card room I would have to do it the night before. We drove the 2 hours into LA and stopped at Parkwest on the way to the hotel. We played poker for 2 hours both making about $400, I was playing 5/5 and my friend was playing 1/3. The casino is under a lot of construction but honestly looks very similar to the one time I was there in 2014. I have to do a little research and make a phone call but other than one casino that may or may not have closed I have every chip available in California now.

The chip is red with 4 blue/purple/blue edge inserts. The centre inlay is white with the casino name and denom in black. Like the other Parkwest chips that I’ve posted this one has the gold star/fireworks looking logo.

Quote: alpha1243

Quote: PokerGrinder

Welcome back from Italy, how was your trip?
link to original post

Great trip, as always. I usually don't buy much of anything for myself, but saw this in an antique store and decided to treat myself. It's from a school of sculptor in Florence that closed over 100 years ago. One student project was to carve a skull out of a wild boar bone. The shop had four. This one with the crown was the largest. The other three were slightly smaller -- one had a fly on its head, another a spider, and another a millipede. The one I purchased was in the best condition. I was able to remove it from the wooden base the owner had mounted it on and put it on a new one fashioned from an old wooden nickel painted metallic black. It'll make for a unique chip talisman. On it's debut I hit a $200 high hand almost as soon as I sat down. (That 'll go a long way in paying for it.)

link to original post

Antique stores are always fun. I need to swing by my local one this month to see if there is anything new.

Quote: AitchTheLetter

<snip>Antique stores are always fun. I need to swing by my local one this month to see if there is anything new.
link to original post

AitchTheLetter,

But if it's new, it wouldn't be an antique ;-)

Dog Hand

State: Florida
City: Bonita Springs
Casino: Bonita Springs Poker Room

When Florida voter decided to put an end to greyhound racing about 5 years ago, track owners delighted. Why? Because all of these dog tracks had opened poker rooms, and their poker rooms were bringing in magnitudes more money than the dog track. In fact, the only reason most dog tracks still ran dogs was because they needed to satisfy the state by running a minimum number of races each season. This allowed them to keep their gaming license, thus letting the poker room stay opened.

Many former dog tracks made no changes. They operated the same poker room on a deserted dog track. The Naples Ft Myers Greyhound Track had other plans. They decided to construct a new facility just for poker. This would be located closer to the main highway. It would have new poker tables and chips. And it wound be renamed the Bonita Springs Poker Room. Bonita Springs had grown and was no longer in the shadows of neighboring Naples or Ft Myers.

Oddly enough the new facility would have the same number of poker tables, 28, as there were at the old facility even though all 28 tables were commonly in operation during their popular promotion days. Wail lists 3 hours long were not uncommon. New space was allotted to various state authorized table games, like 3-Card Poker, Ultimate Texas Hold’em, War, and others commonly referred to as “carnival games” by the poker players.

Poker players noticed a few oddities with the new room. First, the poker tables are all tall. Some of the more diminutive senior crown, especially the females, will find the table rail at shoulder’s height when seated. Second, the new chips are from a manufacturer not seen before. Their shiny inlay on a plastic body is a departure from the ceramic chips they’ve always used – and gone are the beloved greyhound graphics.



These are the $1 and $2 chips in play. They also use a $5, $25, and $100 chip. Every denomination has the same background image of the beach and palm tree, same text (only the denomination changes), and even the same edge marks (only the colors change). The only extra expense made was on the $100 where the inlay has a holographic-style tint over the background for security measures.

I’m very confused right now because I definitely have been to this poker room and have a chip from it. I’m wondering if when I posted my chip from there it didn’t get put into the thread index.

Btw Alpha I do have a few more chip of the days to post before you start posting yours again if that’s ok?

Well, PG, the thread index does NOT at the moment include an entry for the Bonita Springs Poker Room in Bonita Springs, FL. I will admit that it is quite possible that you made a CCotD posting of your chip from that room and that somehow I completely overlooked that post.

If that is the case, and if you can provide me a link to that post, I will belatedly make up for my oversight by adding it to the index now, along with an apology. If you cannot locate that post it seems that a reasonable alternative would be to add alpha1243's CCotD post on 1/20/24 to the index. I prefer to include the earlier post as the one linked in the index.

Please let me know what you can find, or perhaps an admin who reads this thread might be able to locate the overlooked post.

I took a short look to find it and didn’t and no offence but I don’t care enough to spend hours trying to find it lol. So alpha’s Bonita Springs will be the official chip for that poker room!

I can delete my Bonita Springs post if that will make things better. No offense.

UPDATE: Tried to delete it but could not see how to do that.

No don’t delete it! We have no idea where mine is so yours is the official Bonita post lol. Also we aren’t that serious here, you’ll be hard pressed to offend us lol.

Quote: PokerGrinder

I took a short look to find it and didn’t and no offence but I don’t care enough to spend hours trying to find it lol. So alpha’s Bonita Springs will be the official chip for that poker room!
link to original post

Done!

State: Nevada
City: Las Vegas
Casino: Durango

Today’s chip of the day is from Durango Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Durango is owned by stations and opened last year on December 5. The casino has 2000 slot machines and 40 table games. Now these numbers might not seem like a lot but the casino is not big enough to accommodate these numbers. I’ve been to about 1100 or so casinos in my life and I have never seen a casino pack everything in so tight. The rows of slots were so close together that if people were playing them there was absolutely no chance of anyone getting by. Weird decision by management to stuff the most machines possible so that it creates not only what I would think is a fire hazard but also an accessibility issue. Legit if the end machines are both in use I don’t think I could get to one of the middle machines to play it, like I said weird decision.

Outside of the weird set up of the machines I’d say the casino is very aesthetically pleasing but honestly brand new usually looks good. I didn’t look much at the restaurants but one I noticed they have is Shang Noodle which has been a favourite local restaurant of mine for quite a few years so I’d highly suggest checking it out. They make all the noodles by hand and you can watch them do it. We played some slots and made about $550 before I played a few hands of bj and won I think $100 while collecting my chip at a $25 table.

The chip is grey with 2 blue edge inserts. The casino name is engraved aroudn the chip 3 times and what ever the logo is (half sun?) is also engraved 3 times. The centre inlay is like an off white/dirty white with the casino name, logo, location and the denom all in grey.

State: Nevada
City: Las Vegas
Casino: Fontainebleau

Today’s chip of the day is from Fontainebleau Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. As I’m sure most of you know this property was 18 years in the making. It was first announced in May, 2005, construction started in 2007, the hotel tower was topped off in 2008 and Fontainebleau sued a group of banks that cut off funding in 2009 and two months later construction stopped and the project entered chapter 11 bankruptcy. At the time the project was 70% completed and the original opening was only 6 months away. The project was sold to Carl Icahn in 2010 then sold again 7 years later with no further construction done. The new owners planned on opening the property as The Drew in 2022 and even started work on the project again but work stopped in March, 2020 due to Covid. In February 2021 the project came full circle when the original owner bought it back and reinstated the Fontainebleau name. Construction started up again in November, 2021 and eventually opened on December 13, 2023 at a total cost of $3.7 billion. I hope this gives a decent tldr of the history of the property.

My friend and I went straight from Durango to Fontainebleau to check out the other new property in town. This is what I wrote in the Fontainebleau thread after my visit.

“ I went with a friend today and I can say I was amazed. I wasn’t really sure what to expect going in but I wasn’t expecting Wynn level of elegance. Everything is high end, from the planned stores, the multiple high limit rooms to the decor. I like the spacious layout of the slot machines vs what Durango did which was stuff as many machines in as humanly possible which makes it tough to walk around. I liked the assortment of AP machines that were at FB but obviously not everyone cares about that. The lobby entrance is beautiful with great design as is the whole casino. I only played a few hands of bj on a $25 6-5 table to grab a chip for my collection so I can’t say much about the table offerings other than there were a lot of them. I found a small HL slot room and 2 HL table rooms. We went to the cafe where they had sandwiches for $13-$15 which I was surprised by. I wasn’t expecting reasonable food options given the decor. I had a brookie (brownie cookie) for $7, it was big. My buddy had a pressed juice that he said was amazing. Overall I think the casino is a winner, I assume the hotel is equally nice. My initial thoughts were that it was another resorts world where they thought they could contend with Wynn and Venetian and can’t but FB might actually be able to.

Overall 9/10”

I will say that I have read an article since I wrote that review that says they are already having trouble at the new property. A mixture of their location and trying to fight for competition with an established Wynn/Encore might be their downfall. I still think it’s a beautiful property but outside of ap reasons I can’t see a reason I would go to that side of the strip for the same or slightly less elegance than I can get by going to the Venazzo or Wynncore properties. I guess only time will tell.

The chip is one of my favourite I have in my collection. I will start off by saying the chips are all very light, they almost feel like they weigh nothing. The chip is light blue with 4 navy blue edge inserts or navy blue with 4 light blue edge inserts, dealer’s choice. The centre inlay is white with light blue bow ties all around it. The centre of the inlay is black with navy blue ring around it. There are two navy blue bow ties in the middle of both sides of the inlay. The casino name and chip denom are both black. I love this design and the bow tie is seen all over the property, very elegant.

Thanks for the reviews of Durango and Fontainebleau! I was surprised to see "Nevada" and then "Las Vegas" in the CotD thread, but I momentarily forgot about the new openings.

We've tried a couple times to visit Shang Noodle on Spring Mountain, but there's always a long wait, so hopefully the Durango location is as good but without the wait.

I hate to see things go to waste, including mega-casinos, so I hope all that Fontainebleau construction has a reasonable lifespan!

Shang is amazing. MaxPen got me hooked on it many years ago and there is always a wait.

Doc inspired me with the way he displays his chips so I'm now doing something similar. This old coffee table had a missing glass top and broken leg. After a little repair work and shelf construction I had a new glass top made. The last few pleasant nights were spent taking the chips out of my notebooks. There is a second shelf below that will house the chips that don't fit on top.

State: Texas
City: San Angelo
Casino: The River League

The River League opened in August of 2022 and operates a 6-table poker room in west Texas. They open daily at 3pm. This is a well ran, clean, and friendly poker room with lots of action. On the weekend you can find Big O, 1-3 NL, and ROE spread. In the intended spirit of a Texas social club the room also has pool tables, shuffle board, dart boards and even a domino table in addition to a fabulous bar and good food.



They have ceramic chips adorned with their logo. Oddly, the chip denominations do not have a dollar sign and resemble tournament chips.

Thanks for taking over the posting Alpha. I just don’t have time while in NZ so I’ll post my Europe chips after this trip.

State: Nevada
City: Las Vegas
Casino: Aladdin

It’s hard to believe that the Aladdin hasn’t already made an appearance in this Casino Chip of the Day thread. According to Wikipedia, this property began life as Tallyho from 1962-1963, then King’s Crown Tallyho from 1963-1966, followed by the Aladdin in 1966. It experienced several problems, but perhaps the final blow was the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001 as the public lost its taste for this Middle Eastern themed property. It entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy that same year and was eventually sold in 2003. After a renovation the resort opened as Planet Hollywood in 2007.

Dozens and dozens of chips have been issued from the Aladdin in its lifetime. Here are a few $1 chips. The final couple announced the coming of Planet Hollywood.



The Aladdin also operated a high limit Baccarat area within the casino called The London Club. Oversized 43mm chips were used. As you might imagine, few $1 chips were produced and eventually they were all scooped up by the public as souvenirs.



There are a small handful of oversized 43mm $1 chips that have ever produced: both the M Resort and the Palms in Las Vegas issued a 43mm $1 baccarat chip as did the MGM Grand Detroit Casino. More recently, the Ocean Gaming Casino in New Hampshire issued a 43mm rack for their charity casino operations.

Quote: alpha1243

... They have ceramic chips adorned with their logo. Oddly, the chip denominations do not have a dollar sign and resemble tournament chips.
link to original post

Not only is there no dollar sign, but there is no mention on the chip as to what casino it is from. I would have difficulty being sure this logo is actually tied to one specific casino in Texas. Are you sure?

Quote: Doc

Quote: alpha1243

... They have ceramic chips adorned with their logo. Oddly, the chip denominations do not have a dollar sign and resemble tournament chips.
link to original post

Not only is there no dollar sign, but there is no mention on the chip as to what casino it is from. I would have difficulty being sure this logo is actually tied to one specific casino in Texas. Are you sure?
link to original post

Simple Google search will confirm.
https://www.theriverleague.com

I have a few chips in my collection that don’t say the name of the casino on them. My master list of all my chips has a description of that chip beside it so I never forget where it came from.

Quote: Doc

Quote: alpha1243

... They have ceramic chips adorned with their logo. Oddly, the chip denominations do not have a dollar sign and resemble tournament chips.
link to original post

Not only is there no dollar sign, but there is no mention on the chip as to what casino it is from. I would have difficulty being sure this logo is actually tied to one specific casino in Texas. Are you sure?
link to original post

Not all chips make mention of the casino or card room:

Alpha, how is it that all the chips you post look so mint? Do you have any notable acquisition methods?

That Corinthian Club is quite lovely.

Quote: RideTheEdge

Alpha, how is it that all the chips you post look so mint? Do you have any notable acquisition methods?
link to original post

Thanks. My chips probably look to be in good condition for 3 reasons:
1. I'm old (I turn 60 on Sunday), so I probably picked them up years ago when they were in better shape.
2. I take care to clean the chips before scanning them into my collection.
3. I'm a gambler/poker player, so I visit a lot of casinos and card rooms where I'm able to look at a lot of chips before taking home those in the best condition.

State: Texas
City: Cypress
Casino: Hideaway Social

Hideaway Social occupied a unit in a strip mall in Cypress, Texas, and operated a 20-table poker room. Only 2-3 tables were ever busy. They opened in June of 2021 but closed permanently by November. This short 6-month run is typical as the owner was not a poker player nor had any knowledge or experience in running a poker room. He ran a roofing business, liked playing poker, and thought owning his own poker club would be profitable.



The chip rack was above average quality for a Texas social poker room. The chips have the standard base colors: white for the $1’s, red for the $5’s, and green for the $25’s. Each has the club’s name and logo in the center with the denomination in red below. As you might expect with a small poker room in an out-of-the-way location which was only opened for 6 months, there are very few of these chips in the hands of collectors.

Quote: Doc

State: New Jersey
City: Atlantic City
Casino: Margaritaville

link to original post

Margaritaville is not a casino. It is a separate gaming area within Resorts. These are known as Limited Edition chips.

The Flamingo in Las Vegas also has a Margaritaville themed restaurant/bar with a few gaming tables which use Margaritaville themed chips. There's no Margaritaville Casino in Las Vegas -- it's the Flamingo. Same in New Jersey -- it's Resorts.



The first Margaritaville Casino was operated in Biloxi, MS, from 2012 to 2014. It has since closed, but at a different location in Biloxi they opened a Margaritaville Resort. This resort does not have a casino.



The second Margaritaville Casino opened in Bossier City, LA, in 2013.

Quote: alpha1243

State: Texas
City: San Angelo
Casino: The River League

link to original post

Why list The River League alphabetically under R but list The House Club alphabetically under T?

I think it would make sense to choose one or the other. I'd suggest using the correct names, The River League and The House Club, but listing them alphabetically under R and H respectively. What does everyone think?

As far as I was aware Doc had been listing the casinos without “The”. I wonder if The House Club was a mistake. I personally list my chips in my master list without using “The”. Well not exactly without it but I list it as “River League, The”.

State: New Jersey
City: Atlantic City
Casino: Golden Nugget (Wynn)

Ah, the Golden Nugget. This was by far my favorite casino on the Atlantic City boardwalk. During my late teens and early 20’s I would make the 2 hour drive south on the NJ Parkway from my parent’s home in West Paterson. Back then the toll booths were all 25¢ and there were 8 of them. Everyone had their car’s ash trays filled with quarters. When my old 1978 Monte Carlo’s driver’s side window broke, I became expert at opening the sunroof and nailing the toll basket ala Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s sky hook. The anticipation built once you arrived at Exit 38 and turned onto the Atlantic City Expressway.

Parking was always an issue in Atlantic City. First it was free, then it was $5 but usually comped, then the city decided to charge everyone a $10 parking fee which supposedly went towards “city renewal”. Back then it was free, and the Golden Nugget had the best designed parking structure. The interlocking double spiral allowed ascending and descending cars to search for unique parking spots while allowing drivers to make the change from ascending to descending, and vice versa, at every level. Yeah, it was a small thing, but I remembered it.

Back then I would play craps. At that age $100 was a lot of money. I remember getting to the tables and sometimes spending all of 30 minutes playing before finding myself up $100. I’d cash out and drive home. I also remember hanging out at a local bar shooting pool with my high school buddies when midnight would roll around and someone would come up with the bright idea to go to Atlantic City. I didn’t drink, so I always drove. We’d pile in my Monte Carlo and pull up to the casinos at 2am. Now, some of you might not remember this, but Atlantic City casinos were not allowed to stay open 24/7 in the early days. They had to close at 4am and didn’t reopen until 10am. So we’d play for two hours until they closed at 4am. If we lost, we’d drive to Roy Roger’s for roast beef sandwiches. If we won, we’d drive to Roy Roger’s for roast beef sandwiches. Yup, it was always Roy Roger’s. Then we’d head home and I’d drop off the guys as the sun was coming up.

A little history on the casino: This was Steve Wynn’s first venture outside of his family’s Connecticut Bingo parlor roots and into the east coast’s new casino business. The Golden Nugget opened on 21 Dec 1980. By 1987 Wynn was having problems with state gaming regulators and sold the Golden Nugget to Bally’s who renamed it Bally’s Grand. It later became The Grand, then the Atlantic City Hilton, and finally the Atlantic Club before closing in 2014. The Golden Nugget should not to be confused with the current Golden Nugget Atlantic City which is owned by Laundry’s and was formerly Trump Marina, Trump Castle, and started its life as the original Atlantic City Hilton (yes there were two different properties with this name). Wynn left the state and in 1988 would change the landscape of Las Vegas forever when he opened The Mirage the following year. His story was told in the book Running Scared – a great read.

Awesome story, loved it!

State: New Jersey
City: Atlantic City
Casino: Bally’s Grand

Bally’s Entertainment purchased the Golden Nugget from Steve Wynn and renamed it Bally’s Grand. Later it was renamed to The Grand but there were never any rebranded chips. They used the original Bally’s Grand set. This is the only $1 chip design ever used at the property.



As I noted in yesterday’s Casino Chip of the Day discussion, the original Golden Nugget owned by Steve Wynn is a different property from the current Golden Nugget Atlantic City property owned by Laundry’s. This original Bally’s Grand is also a different property from Bally’s Park Place or Bally’s. Bally’s Grand / The Grand had a 10 year run before it was sold and renamed the Atlantic City Hilton.

I hadn't noticed before... but is it fairly common to have the denomination as part of a house mold?

Quote: Dieter

I hadn't noticed before... but is it fairly common to have the denomination as part of a house mold?
link to original post

I was surprised by that when I posted an old AC chip and then noticed a lot of AC chips have the denom molded in. I wonder if it was a New Jersey regulation at some point.

As my senility progresses, perhaps someone else will need to take over the CCotD indexing of chips in this thread. I can't seem to keep straight the casinos in one small "city" in New Jersey, where they seem to want to keep reusing similar names for places.

When I posted my souvenir chip from "Bally's (Atlantic City)" in this thread just under eleven years ago, I tried to post the history of the place. Just the day before that, I had (similarly) attempted to post the history of the place from which I had collected my souvenir Golden Nugget chip. There have been a few other times in this forum that similar attempts were made, but now it all just looks like a jumble to me.

The original Golden Nugget which was owned by Steve Wynn later became Bally's Grand, then The Grand, then the Atlantic City Hilton, and finally The Atlantic Club before it was closed for good in 2014.

The original Golden Nugget, oftentimes denoted as Golden Nugget (Wynn) is a totally different property than the current Golden Nugget, oftentimes denoted as Golden Nugget (Landry's). The original Golden Nugget (Wynn) would generate 4 unique CCotD posts:

1. Golden Nugget (Wynn)
2. Bally's Grand
3. Atlantic City Hilton
4. The Atlantic Club

The original Park Place later became Bally's Park Place, then Bally's Atlantic City. The original Park Place would generate 3 unique CCotD posts:

1. Park Place
2. Bally's Park Place
3. Bally's Atlantic City.

Bally's Grand has nothing to do with Bally's Park Place or Bally's Atlantic City. I suspect the confusion originated with your shortening of the full casino names to better "fit" the boxes in your Index grid. You ran into this same problem/confusion with Texas poker rooms, remember? If your senility is real, then I'd nominate PokerGrinder to assume the duties.

State: New Jersey
City: Atlantic City
Casino: Park Place

This property has a varied past. Park Place was the third casino to open in New Jersey. It opened for business on 29 December 1979. Throughout its time it released three $1 Park Place chips. The Paulson chip design featured the same custom Park Place mold. Their first issue had dark brown inserts while the second and third issues had tan inserts. Only on the background of the third issue do we see the name Bally’s make an appearance. The Bally’s name would grow from this faint background introduction as years past. All three chips are shown below.



The property was eventually rebranded as Bally’s Park Place. New chips were issued using the same Park Place mold with a large inlay with the text Bally’s Park Place Atlantic City New Jersey and background of coins and bills (shown). A rarer $1 chip was issued that looked identical, but has text reading Bally’s Park Place Casino • Hotel & Tower (not shown). Both have the same four tan inserts.



Within Bally’s an area was created with a western motif, called Bally’s Wild Wild West Casino. This was not a new casino, but a themed gaming area inside of Bally’s. Special chips were issued for the gaming tables. They used the same Park Place mold with the large inlay. This 2-sided chip featured the same inlay as the previous chip on one side with the words Bally’s Atlantic City. The reverse featured cross pistols in keeping with the wild west theme.



Finally, in 2022, Bally’s dropped the Park Place name from its property and chips completely. It’s now known as Bally’s Atlantic City as Bally’s has expended and opened several new Bally’s branded casinos across the country to include Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, and Rhode Island. The custom mold was replaced by the cheaper RHC mold. The tan inserts were replaced by two blue ones. And the new inlay featured the iconic Bally’s B.

Thanks alpha for these posts. I remember the AC you talk about from the late 80s. Unfortunately I did not collect back then and don't possess most of the older chips.

Here is the second shelf from my chip display. Lots of room to add to the collection.

Quote: RideTheEdge

Thanks alpha for these posts. I remember the AC you talk about from the late 80s. Unfortunately I did not collect back then and don't possess most of the older chips.

link to original post

Here are a few more of the older $1 Atlantic City chips. I have them posted for sale on the Casino Chip Collecting group on Facebook.

I have CCotD posts written for these old AC chips/casinos and will post them each day throughout the week. Glad you enjoy reading about them and seeing the chips.

State: New Jersey
City: Atlantic City
Casino: Trump Castle

Trump Castle opened its doors on 17 June 1985 as the 11th casino to open in Atlantic City. This property was originally built to operate as the Hilton Atlantic City but was unable to secure a casino license. As a result, Trump Castle used the Hilton rack of chips for about a month. These chips featured the iconic Hilton rainbow – the same inlay used at their Hilton Las Vegas property at that time. Both chips are shown below.



The Hilton Atlantic City was the original name for Trump Castle. This is a different property than the Atlantic City Hilton which started life as the Golden Nugget owned by Steve Wynn.

Once the new Trump Castle chips were available, the Hilton chips were destroyed as per New Jersey Casino Control Commission regulations.



Trump Castle operated until 1997 when it was renamed Trump Marina.

Yeah, I could have made 2 posts, one for the Hilton and another for Trump Castle, but it made sense to tell the story in a single post. It also makes sense to list each chip/casino separately in the Index.

I wouldn’t think the Hilton would be indexed because it’s a casino that never opened and operated under that name.

I'll be busy the next few days playing poker, so here are a few CCotD posts in advance. Enjoy!

State: New Jersey
City: Atlantic City
Casino: TropWorld

TropWorld is an odd beast. It was originally named the Tropicana, was renamed TropWorld, and then in fairly short order was changed back to the Tropicana. It only operated under the TropWorld name from May 1995 to July 1996.



This is one of the few $1 chips from Atlantic City designed with two different sides. One side features the Absecon Lighthouse, a coastal lighthouse located in the north end of Atlantic City. The other side has a simple fuchsia octagon with the chip denomination. As required by law, the base color is white. This chip has 4 fuchsia inserts. This is no coincidence. The Tropicana chips were also white with 4 fuchsia inserts. When stacked or racked, the chips look identical from the sides. Here is the evolution of the Tropicana chips.





Most casinos have a second rack of chips, known as a back-up set, to be used in case the original set in play has been compromised. The chips will have a different insert design so that cashiers and dealer can tell the old from the new. Back-up sets are commonly put into play when high denomination chips, like the $100 chips, have been successfully counterfeited and redeemed or put into play without the casino knowing. When a count is performed at the cage these “fake” chips are often discovered. In the case of counterfeit $100’s, the casino will remove the $100 chips in play and replace them with the back-up rack. These old $100 chips are now obsolete. Patrons will no longer be able to redeem these obsolete $100 chips unless they can prove that they were obtained honestly. Remember, chips are the property of the casino and patrons are not allowed to take them off property. This allows casino not to honor the old rack if they so choose. Usually a casino host is needed to vouch for a player trying to redeem obsolete chips. Back-up chips are rarely put into play, but it does happen. This is a good reason to never bring home large denomination chips from a casino as they might be deemed obsolete before you return.

State: New Jersey
City: Atlantic City
Casino: Boardwalk Regency

The Boardwalk Regency was the second casino to open in Atlantic City. It opened its doors on 26 June 1979. Caesars purchased the Howard Johnson’s Regency Motor Hotel in 1977, added 7 floors bringing the room count to 548, and added 52,000 square feet of gaming space. They Regency name was retained, but in 1983 is was renamed Caesars Boardwalk Regency, though no chips were ever issued which reflected this name change.

Both Paulson chip designs featured a custom Boardwalk Regency mold. The inlays are the same, only the inserts changed.



It wasn’t until 1987 that the property was rebranded Caesars Atlantic City and new chips issued.

State: New Jersey
City: Atlantic City
Casino: The Brighton

The Brighton was the fourth casino to open in Atlantic City. It was originally the site of the Brighton Cottage built in 1876. The Brighton opened its doors on 31 August 1980. This casino had a very short run, closing less than a year later in May of 1981. In August of that same year it was reopened as the Sands casino.

I played at The Brighton a few times, but remember little of it. I probably made the trip out of curiosity and to pick up this chip.

The Paulson chip design featured a custom The Brighton Hotel & Casino mold with 4 purple inserts.