Casino Chip of the Day

Many of the older casinos on the strip have had multiple personas. Without doing any research just a few that have changed since I first started going to Vegas. Ballys was the MGM, that was when it had the famous fire along with the Hilton in the same year. Harrahs was the Holiday and looked like a stylized riverboat. Planet Hollywood was the Aladdin in 2 completely different buildings on the same site. Some of the current MGM Grand includes what was the Marina. This doesn't include all the casinos they 'blowed-up real good' and built new ones on the same sites.

Quote: Ayecarumba

... perhaps the employee responsible for creating the misspelled names has been "re-classifeid"?

Even more humor sneaking in around here!

OK, so I've got a question for rdw4potus, BUZZARD, or anyone else who might have a useful answer.

I read just today that Saratoga Harness Racing of NY has purchased the Fitzgeralds casino in Blackhawk, CO. That reminded me that I should prepare an updated list of casinos to visit in Colorado when I get there in the days right after the WoVCon (with whatever version of the "3" you prefer) in May. I am only interested in casinos that have table games and chips to collect. Can any of you advise me of which places are currently in operation and any other stuff I might need to know, such as limited operating hours?

Here is my draft list developed from other sources, and I need to know of corrections and additions:

Cripple Creek: Brass Ass, Bronco/Buffalo Billy’s, Colorado Grande, Double Eagle, Gold Creek, Gold Rush, Wildwood, Womacks

Central City: Century, Doc Holiday, Famous Bonanza, Fortune Valley, Johnny Z’s

Black Hawk: Ameristar, Canyon, Fitzgeralds, Gilpin, Golden Gate, Isle of Capri, Lady Luck, Lodge, Mardi Gras, Riviera

Thanks in advance for the help!

I don't know how you handle this in your collection, but several of the smaller casinos do not have table games but do have $1 slot tokens. Are those in or out for your collecting purposes?

In terms of tables, that list looks right to me. I'll double check my own chips when I get home on Saturday.

Thanks, rdw for the feedback. I have never collected tokens except for those places that use them for table games and do not have $1 chips.

State: Florida
City: Madeira Beach (John's Pass)
Casino: TradeWinds Escapade

I'm still backtracking on the chip presentation sequence for today and tomorrow, with Florida chips for both days. Today's chip is from the TradeWinds casino boat that now sails out of John's Pass, that waterway between Madeira Beach and Treasure Island on the Gulf coast, just a few miles north of St. Petersburg Beach.

There have been several casino boats that have operated briefly out of John's Pass, but all of the previous ones seem to have gone belly up. This one just started operation last August, and my wife and I gave it a try when we were down that way in mid January. I understand that they have operated this boat out of other ports, but I haven't searched the history. I think the name of the boat is Escapade, but I didn't check out the markings as we boarded. The chip only identifies the cruise line, not the specific ship, and I haven't found any mention of any other ship that they currently operate anywhere.

When they opened for business last summer, they had a schedule of nine cruises per week. As of last month they were operating seven 5-hour cruises each week, with daytime cruises on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, with nighttime cruises on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Mondays and Tuesdays are now off days. I don't know whether the reduction from nine to seven trips per week is a seasonal thing or an indication that business is not what they expected. My wife and I went out with them on a Friday evening cruise from 7 P.M. to midnight, with boarding at 6 P.M.

Nominally, they charge $10 to board the boat for the cruise, but they apparently have plenty of free-admission promos, such as the Ladies-Sail-Free night the night we went out, plus you can get free-boarding coupons on line or at various kiosk racks in the area. I don't know any reason someone actually pays to board other than not paying attention to opportunities, just forgetting to get a coupon in advance, or not caring about $10. If you don't plan, then they will be willing to accept your $10.

We were a bit disappointed in the boat, but it was not as bad as some of the reports I have read about other day cruise casinos. We had hoped to spend some of the time riding out and back by enjoying time on the open deck, however we found that the diesel fumes were quite intense in the only deck areas accessible to passengers. We also found that far too many of the passengers became intoxicated. And I mean loud and falling-down drunk. Not everyone, of course, but far more than I would have expected for the number of people on the boat. I have not encountered quite such boorish behavior very often in casinos or on cruises. One on-line forum I saw had a comment about "lots of ghetto trash on the boat", so there could be a regular pattern.

Also, there must have been some kind of incident that we missed. As everyone was filing off the boat at midnight, the local police were on board and had a couple detained over to the side. I have no idea what that was about.

The games seemed to be well run, but they had the monopoly/captive audience kind of rules I have come to expect on boats. Craps offered 2x odds only, no 3x pay on field, buy vig up front. At least they offered $5 minimums. Unfortunately, I was still able to lose substantially, as did everyone else I saw playing craps. Table was ice cold, and even the few people who tried playing the dark side managed to lose money. Can't fault the house/ship for the positions the dice stopped. I didn't check out the other games.

I am fairly confident, though not absolutely certain, that the chip shown below was manufactured by Bud Jones. It is a plastic injection molded chip, and I think it is rather attractive. The blue and white center inlay is clean and includes a colorful logo/name of the cruise line. Nothing on this chip fluoresces under UV light.

This chip is roughly similar in edge patterns to the Tuscany chip I posted back last August, and that one was marked clearly with the BJ logo. In the MOGH catalog, they do not claim any source for the $1 chip from the TradeWinds casino boat, but they report some of the higher denominations as coming from Bud Jones, and those chips are identical in design except for their colors. Guess that is probably as much confirmation as I'm going to find.

I have recently noted that some of the chips that the MOGH catalog lists as coming from Bud Jones, I believe came instead from GEMACO. The GEMACO chips certainly are similar in general appearance to the ones from Bud Jones, but I cannot find a pattern of "inserts" shown on the GAMACO web site that matches this chip.




Very much as a side issue that I came across while preparing this write-up, take a look at this page from the GEMACO web site, showing some table game accessories that they offer. Zoom in (if you can) on the dice bowl and take a look at the die on the right. Then look over to the right on the page, where they have a die held in one of those spinner/balance devices, and examine that die, too. Does anyone see anything unusual about those dice?

Quote: Doc

State: Florida
City: Madeira Beach (John's Pass)
Casino: TradeWinds Escapade

Very much as a side issue that I came across while preparing this write-up, take a look at this page from the GEMACO web site, showing some table game accessories that they offer. Zoom in (if you can) on the dice bowl and take a look at the die on the right. Then look over to the right on the page, where they have a die held in one of those spinner/balance devices, and examine that die, too. Does anyone see anything unusual about those dice?

Interesting... I recall a previous conversation regarding these "left twist / right twist" dice somewhere. As long as the pips are the same weight as the material they replace, I don't think it matters. However, I think it would be fun to start noting the twist at each craps table, to see if they are all internally consistent.

I have seen them referred to as "reverse 2-3" dice. I posted an image once before from a company that described it as a "security feature", though I can't think of any security benefit it would provide. Another member posted a comment that it was once considered a way to mark dice that had been gaffed in some way, but I don't know about that either. What I do know is that I have never seen any dice like this in a casino anywhere, and all of the dice that I have myself are of the standard configuration.

For any of you who did not pick out the unusual aspect of those dice, on standard dice the 2 face and the 3 face have their pips closest to the other (2 or 3) face at the corner near the 6 face. On the GEMACO web page, you can see the 2 face has a pip at the corner with the 4 and 6 faces, rather than at the corner with the 3 and 6 faces. The 3 face is not visible, so it is not clear whether that is reversed also, as it is on the "reverse 2-3" dice I posted some time back.

I do have a brass paperweight (1 5/8" cube) that is marked as a die. The 2 & 3 faces are fine on that one, too, but the 6 face has the pips running in the wrong direction, i.e., pointing at the 2-5 faces rather than at the 3-4 faces. For a paperweight, I think they just didn't pay attention to that kind of detail.

Quote: Doc

State: Florida
City: Madeira Beach (John's Pass)
Casino: TradeWinds Escapade

I am fairly confident, though not absolutely certain, that the chip shown below was manufactured by Bud Jones. It is a plastic injection molded chip, and I think it is rather attractive. The blue and white center inlay is clean and includes a colorful logo/name of the cruise line. Nothing on this chip fluoresces under UV light.

This chip is roughly similar in edge patterns to the Tuscany chip I posted back last August, and that one was marked clearly with the BJ logo. In the MOGH catalog, they do not claim any source for the $1 chip from the TradeWinds casino boat, but they report some of the higher denominations as coming from Bud Jones, and those chips are identical in design except for their colors. Guess that is probably as much confirmation as I'm going to find.

I agree that injection molded material combined with trapezoidal edge inserts seem to be Bud Jones hallmarks.

Was there only one craps table on the boat? Does the boat pull out to the 12 mile limit and drop anchor, or does it just continue out in a straight line until it is time to turn around and come back? What happens to bets in action when it is time to shut down the table? Were folks getting seasick?

We went out on two casino boats on this trip -- the other chip is coming tomorrow -- and I don't know exactly what the "cruising" was like on the TradeWinds boat. They didn't open the casino for an hour while we cruised out, but long before that my wife and I had made the decision to say inside because of the diesel fumes. I don't really know whether they dropped anchor or just cruised slowly. The Gulf is so calm it is hard to feel much of any motion unless they are driving at fairly high speed. I don't know how far we went out, but I am sure they didn't waste the fuel to keep churning farther out for two and a half hours before turning back.

This was a fairly small casino boat (though I don't have much with which to compare it), and it only had one craps table. Apparently there is often not enough room for all those that want to play the game, and people had reserved their spots at the table with player's cards and other notes well before the casino was open for play. I saw this going on, so I staked out my own spot, too, using a business card.

They gave plenty of notice as to when the gaming would be closed, but my dwindling bankroll had moved me off the table before that. I don't know just how they ended the "final" craps hand, and I have no idea how they would deal with it if someone were in the midst of a monster roll as it was time to start back across the boundary line.

State: Florida
City: Port Canaveral
Casino: Victory

Today I am posting the final "catch up" chip collected on my recent trip to Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida. This one is from the second of the casino boats that we checked out, the Victory from Victory Casino Cruises. The ship sails out of Port Canaveral, Florida, from a pier not far from the ones used by the major cruise lines for trips to the Bahamas, the Caribbean Islands, Mexico, and Central America.

The best info I have been able to dig up with my usual minimum of effort is that this ship is the former Surfside Princess, which was operated out of Port Canaveral by Sun Cruz, until that company went bankrupt at the end of 2009. Victory Casino Cruises was created by an investment group Tynda Holdings, which purchased the ship at a bankruptcy auction in late 2010. Of course, I also found that the same ship, or another casino ship of the same name, was purchased at a bankruptcy auction back in 2003. Perhaps the business of casino boats is just as bankruptcy-prone as that of land-based casinos.

In contrast to the vessels of Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and the like, this ship just makes day cruises, primarily but not exclusively for casino patrons. The cruise never took us out of sight of land, but it did keep in gentle motion for the entire six-hour trip. The ship makes two voyages daily, seven days a week, with most lasting five hours (11 a.m. to 4 p.m and 7 p.m to midnight), but the Friday and Saturday night cruises give you an extra half hour, returning at midnight thirty, and the Sunday afternoon cruise (which we took) runs noon to 6 p.m.

The boarding fee for each cruise is $10. There are group discounts and coupons available, but I didn't check into them this time. Turns out that it doesn't really matter – this cruise experience is well worth the boarding fee. They also offer a buffet on each cruise, with prices of $17.50 or $22.50 depending on the day, with a $2.50 discount for paying at the time of boarding. The Sunday night cruise does not offer a buffet, perhaps because of the short turnaround in port that day. We did not try the buffet but instead chose just to order from the menu in their sports bar restaurant, and I thought the food, service, and pricing were just fine, about what I would expect from a similar restaurant on shore.

My wife and I made rendezvous for the cruise with one of our former neighbors who moved to Orlando a little over a year ago. Last fall, she lost her husband to a totally unforeseeable heart attack, and she has been looking for some solace in her life. The sea and lake environments have been soothing, and the cruise with us seemed to really make her day. She and my wife did not gamble at all and spent much of the time at sea just talking, watching the water, and listening to the live music performance on the aft deck. This ship was much larger and offered a much, much more pleasant cruising experience than the boat out of John's Pass that we had been on just two days earlier. Our friend said that now that she has experienced it, she plans to take more of the Victory cruises with some of her Florida friends – how can you beat a $10 fee (with free parking) for a six-hour cruise with entertainment?

If you are interested in giving the ship a try, here is a link to their web site.

There seemed to be quite a few other people on board, many in groups, who were there for the day at sea, with apparently no interest in the gambling at all. While I enjoyed the ride at sea and the chance to get together with a friend, I did not, of course, pass up the opportunity to check out the casino on board.

They have gaming machines on several decks plus in their sports bar, which does include a sports book in addition to the bar and restaurant. NFL playoff games were in progress during our cruise, and they were booking the action. There were also a couple of blackjack tables in the sports bar.

The rest of the table games are all located on one deck. With my limited breadth of interest, I did not check out the rules of their games, but the web site lists the offerings as including Let it Ride, Craps, Roulette, Blackjack, Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em, EZ Bac, and 3-card Poker, in addition to the machines.

There were three craps tables, with two in operation that Sunday afternoon. They offered a $5 minimum and 5x odds, which I don't think I have ever encountered on a boat. They certainly did not seem to be exploiting the captive audience.

In spite of favorable rules and my general policy of minimum bets, I managed to get down something over $300. Other players were losing, too, and the table pretty much cleared out before I had my best roll of the day and won it all back (yes, on my own throws!), ending the day $40 ahead at the table. That put me up double the admission fee for both my wife and myself, and with free parking, free live music, and very reasonable prices in the restaurant, I cannot complain at all about anything! A great experience, and a great way to add to my collection while on vacation.

I have to admit that I really have no idea what company manufactured the chip shown below. It appears to be a white, plastic injection molded chip with tan "inserts," similar to the ones made by Bud Jones and GEMACO. However, it has an oversized center inlay like the ones often found on the clay composite chips. This inlay has very muted graphics, almost as if there were a clear image underneath but with an overlay fabric that masks it. The name "Victory" is presented twice on the perimeter of the chip, and the full "Victory Casino Cruises" is on the center inlay, along with a picture of a ship, the name of the sailing port, and a pair of dice.

I don't think I have seen any other chip like this before, and the MOGH catalog gives no hint as to the manufacturer.

Under UV light, the white outer portion of the chip fluoresces, and there is some kind of hidden image that appears four times, twice straddling each of the denomination marks. Each of those hidden images looks a bit like a 4-pane window frame composed of white dots. My guess is that this ikon is some kind of manufacturer's logo, but I have no idea who it belongs to. Any input from anyone?

At the risk of being completely unhelpful...

That IS a very interesting chip. I don't think I've ever seen an inlay combined with injection mold for a chip. The dots on the UV image remind me of the MicroSoft Windows logo, but I doubt MicroSoft is into the chip business....

The boats are supposed to sail 9 miles offshore by law in TX and FL and 3 miles everywhere else. In calm waters mostly idle or circle around to limit rolling motion in choppy waters. I usually play at the Emerald Princess in Brunswick GA and they announce last shooter 15 minutes before returning to port. I've only had one time when I was the only one left at the table shooting from the don't and the dealers tried to talk me into taking down my bet and finally paid my line bet (but not the odds) so they can close the table...

Quote: DJTeddyBear

I don't think I've ever seen an inlay combined with injection mold for a chip. The dots on the UV image remind me of the MicroSoft Windows logo, but I doubt MicroSoft is into the chip business....

I don't think it's from MicroSoft either, but here is my latest speculation -- and I invite comments on this, too.

Rather than being from Bud Jones, this chip just might be from BJ's European counterpart in Gaming Partners International, i.e., Bourgogne-et-Grasset (B&G). They, too, make plastic injection molded chips, and their web site mentions a security feature that they offer called "Lace and Lamé Overlays" -- I have no idea what that means, but it could be what I described as a possible "fabric" covering the center inlay.

The reason I started considering B&G as a possibility is that window frame ikon that shows up under UV light. Take a look at the chip I posted from the Riverwalk Rainbow (Edit: Ooops!) casino in Vicksburg (reposted below) and check out the "BG" logo near the 9 o'clock position. Does that look anything like the Victory chip's UV "window frame" ikon to anyone? It's not really a match, but it's the best guess I've been able to come up with.

Quote: Doc

The reason I started considering B&G as a possibility is that window frame ikon that shows up under UV light. Take a look at the chip I posted from the Riverwalk casino in Vicksburg (reposted below) and check out the "BG" logo near the 9 o'clock position. Does that look anything like the Victory chip's UV "window frame" ikon to anyone? It's not really a match, but it's the best guess I've been able to come up with.

Dang! I'd say that's a very good possibility.

State: Missouri
City: St. Charles
Casino: Ameristar

Welcome to Super Bowl Sunday! (Or do I have to say Big Game Day?) Today we begin a new state for this thread, the twelfth state so far.

I have really only skimmed the surface of Missouri casinos and have less than a week's worth of chips to post. I need to get a return trip to the state onto my travel schedule, but for this thread's purposes, we'll just have to wait for rdw4potus to present chips from the other places. Maybe I'll find a way to work mine into the thread when I eventually get them.

The Ameristar Casino in St. Charles is located on the northern banks of the Missouri River, on the northwest side of metropolitan St. Louis. It is adjacent to the I-70 bridge across the river, and my wife and I visited there last July as we made our rounds of the St. Louis area casinos.

I expect all of you are familiar with the Fountains of Bellagio and the smaller water displays that they frequently have in the Bellagio conservatory. I particularly like the coherent streams that they produce in the conservatory that look as if the water is contained in a clear, arching, acrylic tube, except that the height of the arch is variable, and sometimes it stops/disappears. Or sometimes it becomes an intermittent flow, like a dashed line.

I expect that these are laminar-flow streams, and as an engineer, I am particularly impressed with the ability to create such streams and keep them from breaking apart into turbulence. It is an intriguing fluid mechanics problem, particularly when they are able to do it at variable flow rates. The first time I saw a water feature anything like that was in the early 1980s at EPCOT in Disney World.

They have a small but very similar fountain in the foyer of the Ameristar in St. Charles, and it provides probably my strongest memory of this casino. The thing they do with that fountain that particularly caught my eye is when they have two of those laminar streams intersecting and breaking each other apart. It was particularly interesting when they varied the height of both streams, adjusting the point of intersection.

I found this video of the fountain on YouTube. Have a quick look, and you will see what I'm talking about. I don't think I have seen that little trick done at the Bellagio conservatory.

Of course, I didn't spend all of my time at the Ameristar watching their water feature. I also played a two-hour session of craps and managed to win $145, which I desperately needed to see after getting massacred at some other places that day.

The chip shown below is a white RHC Paulson with four narrow edge inserts, two each in medium blue and purple. The center inlay has four scallops cut out of a black disk, with the casino name and city surrounding a center circle containing the denomination mark, which is apparently serving as a pin cushion. Nothing on this chip fluoresces under UV light.

Quote: doc (changes in bold)

Cripple Creek: Big Jim's, Brass Ass, Billy’s, Century, Double Eagle, Gold Creek, Gold Rush, Midnight Rose, Wildwood Maybe: Colorado Grande and Womack's. I do not have those chips, but I wouldn't complain about needing to return to Cripple Creek.

Central City: Century, Famous Bonanza, Johnny Z’s, Reserve. Note: Doc Holiday is slots only, Fortune Valley closed.

Black Hawk: Ameristar, Canyon, Fitzgeralds, Gilpin, Golden Gate, Isle of Capri, Lady Luck, Lodge, Mardi Gras, Riviera

Went through my chips and notes. Turns out there were a couple additions to the list.

Here's my chip from Ameristar St. Charles. Like Doc's, it's a Paulson RHC. I've been to Ameristar a few dozen times. For a while, Ameristar and Harrahs were generous enough - and airfare was cheap enough - that I was visiting Saint Louis monthly. Now I need to return to pick up Hollywood and Isle chips, and I have no offers and airfare is insanely high. I suppose I'm also traveling from a different city of origin now.

Quote: rdw4potus

Cripple Creek: ... Midnight Rose ...

It appears that the Midnight Rose is part of Triple Crown Casinos. Their web site for three casinos in Cripple Creek has a link for Table Games, but it suggests that the Brass Ass is the only one of the three with table games. Did I misunderstand?

Quote: Doc

Quote: rdw4potus

Cripple Creek: ... Midnight Rose ...

It appears that the Midnight Rose is part of Triple Crown Casinos. Their web site for three casinos in Cripple Creek has a link for Table Games, but it suggests that the Brass Ass is the only one of the three with table games. Did I misunderstand?

I forget that you don't play poker. Midnight Rose has a poker room. Forget that one, I guess.

On an unrelated note, I think that Brass Ass may have replaced Artichoke Joe's as my favorite casino name represented in my collection.

State: Missouri
City: Maryland Heights
Casino: Harrah's

Harrah's St. Louis was located in Maryland Heights, across the Missouri River and just over half a mile upstream from the Ameristar that I mentioned yesterday. The casino is still there, but it is no longer called Harrah's. It is not even a property of Caesars Entertainment.

The place was sold to Penn National Gaming last November, with the planned sale having been announced back in May. That was prior to my only visit to the place, and I hadn't even been aware of the casino at the time I saw the questionably-worded announcement. I was so confused by what it said that I started this thread in our forum to ask for clarification.

It was, and I assume still is, a very nice casino, and it is now known as Hollywood Casino St. Louis. Based (I assume) on my having played at that establishment last July, I have been receiving lots of mailers from the Hollywood Casino. I did lose $100 playing craps at this Harrah's in just a 30-minute session – my third losing session of the day – but that doesn't seem to be an adequate level of action to generate the amount of attention I have been receiving from the Hollywood. I'm wondering whether the Hollywood is so desperate for business that they need to keep soliciting a low roller like me.

My souvenir shown below is a white RHC Paulson chip that has four edge inserts, two each in dark olive and orange. The colorful and oversized center inlay has a carnival theme, with lots of Mardi Gras beads, just like something you would expect for the Rio in Las Vegas. The inlay has four scalloped cutouts, very much like the one on yesterday's Ameristar chip.

There is one hidden image revealed by UV light, and I think/suspect it is a Paulson hat and cane logo, but it is so obstructed by the other printing on the inlay that I am not completely certain.

Quote: Doc

State: Missouri
City: St. Charles
Casino: Ameristar

...I expect all of you are familiar with the Fountains of Bellagio and the smaller water displays that they frequently have in the Bellagio conservatory. I particularly like the coherent streams that they produce in the conservatory that look as if the water is contained in a clear, arching, acrylic tube, except that the height of the arch is variable, and sometimes it stops/disappears. Or sometimes it becomes an intermittent flow, like a dashed line.

I expect that these are laminar-flow streams, and as an engineer, I am particularly impressed with the ability to create such streams and keep them from breaking apart into turbulence. It is an intriguing fluid mechanics problem, particularly when they are able to do it at variable flow rates. The first time I saw a water feature anything like that was in the early 1980s at EPCOT in Disney World.

They have a small but very similar fountain in the foyer of the Ameristar in St. Charles, and it provides probably my strongest memory of this casino. The thing they do with that fountain that particularly caught my eye is when they have two of those laminar streams intersecting and breaking each other apart. It was particularly interesting when they varied the height of both streams, adjusting the point of intersection.

I found this video of the fountain on YouTube. Have a quick look, and you will see what I'm talking about. I don't think I have seen that little trick done at the Bellagio conservatory...

I love fountains. This one appears to be indoors, in an atrium at the intersection of two "mall" walkways. If that is accurate, than I assume it is easier to set up intersecting streams of water, because you don't have to worry about wind. If you enjoy fountains too, check out the water feature in the middle of the driveway at the CityCenter complex in Las Vegas. It gets lit up at night, and puts on a nice show.

Quote: Doc

State: Missouri
City: Maryland Heights
Casino: Harrah's

Harrah's St. Louis was located in Maryland Heights, across the Missouri River and just over half a mile upstream from the Ameristar that I mentioned yesterday. The casino is still there, but it is no longer called Harrah's. It is not even a property of Caesars Entertainment.

The place was sold to Penn National Gaming last November, with the planned sale having been announced back in May. That was prior to my only visit to the place, and I hadn't even been aware of the casino at the time I saw the questionably-worded announcement. I was so confused by what it said that I started this thread in our forum to ask for clarification.

It was, and I assume still is, a very nice casino, and it is now known as Hollywood Casino St. Louis. Based (I assume) on my having played at that establishment last July, I have been receiving lots of mailers from the Hollywood Casino. I did lose $100 playing craps at this Harrah's in just a 30-minute session – my third losing session of the day – but that doesn't seem to be an adequate level of action to generate the amount of attention I have been receiving from the Hollywood. I'm wondering whether the Hollywood is so desperate for business that they need to keep soliciting a low roller like me.

My souvenir shown below is a white RHC Paulson chip that has four edge inserts, two each in dark olive and orange. The colorful and oversized center inlay has a carnival theme, with lots of Mardi Gras beads, just like something you would expect for the Rio in Las Vegas. The inlay has four scalloped cutouts, very much like the one on yesterday's Ameristar chip.

There is one hidden image revealed by UV light, and I think/suspect it is a Paulson hat and cane logo, but it is so obstructed by the other printing on the inlay that I am not completely certain.

What's with the scalloping? I that the newest, "thing"?

I am excited to learn the GPI is introducing clear and translucent elements to their products. A see through window on a chip is very cool. Check out the see through, "diamonds" in the green sample chip on this page.

Quote: Ayecarumba

What's with the scalloping? I that the newest, "thing"?

I don't know how "new" it is, and I don't know whether it has any purpose other than aesthetics. I remember a few months ago that rdw4potus posted some chips, and I noted that some of them had center inlays with half a dozen or so convex scallops while some had concave scallops like the ones on these latest two chips.

Here's my chip from Harrah's Saint Louis. Like Ameristar, I've visited this property dozens of times, though not since Penn National took over. The layout always confuses me, it's almost like it's two casinos side-by-side. One has slots and table games, the other has the poker area and more slots. I think the second is also theoretically smoke free.

I've never had any luck at Harrah's (or Ameristar), but I think I'm still up from the freeplay offers and airline & car rental loyalty points that these trips caused.

State: Missouri
City: Caruthersville
Casino: Lady Luck

According to notes accompanying the MOGH chip catalog, the Casino Aztar riverboat opened in Caruthersville in October 1984 as a bingo "parlour" – I wonder about the nationality of the writer of those notes. The notes go on to say that the casino closed in June 2008 to become the Lady Luck.

I didn't know any more of the history of this place until I checked Wikipedia, so blame any inaccuracies here on my lack of motivation to seek out a more reliable resource. According to Wiki, when Columbia Sussex acquired Aztar in January 2007, there were lingering issues related to the company obtaining a casino license in Missouri. These issues had arisen in 2004, when Columbia Sussex had agreed to purchase a St. Louis casino from bankrupt President Casinos. The gaming commissioners supposedly were primed to refuse a license based on various problems that Columbia Sussex owner William Yung was having, including an IRS audit and using a corporate credit card for personal expenses.

Anyway, the purchase of the casino in St. Louis fell through because of the licensing issues, and Columbia Sussex didn't want to let similar things block their acquisition of the entire Aztar company. They threatened initially to shut the casino down in order to get the sale to go through. Instead, before being absorbed by Columbia Sussex, Aztar agreed to sell that one casino to Fortunes Entertainment, but even that effort fell through when Fortunes could not acquire a Missouri license in a timely manner. In what looks a bit like a desperation move to keep the casino open, Aztar agreed to let the gaming commission appoint a supervisor to manage the one casino when the merger/buyout took place. Five months later, in June 2007, the casino was sold to Isle of Capri, which renamed it the Lady Luck.

Note that this is a full year earlier than the June 2008 date that the MOGH catalog notes say that Casino Aztar closed and the Lady Luck opened. I have checked a few other on-line resources, including this page from the St. Louis Business Journal. It appears that this time it is MOGH that screwed up the date for this change, not Wiki, and they did it on both their page for Casino Aztar and their page for the Lady Luck.

Caruthersville is located in that little boot heel of Missouri, sandwiched between Arkansas and Tennessee. The Lady Luck complex includes a land-based building, several parking lots, an outdoor entertainment venue, and a long, covered ramp down to the casino floating on the Mississippi River. My wife and I visited there one afternoon last July as we drove from Tunica, MS by way of the Southland Park casino in West Memphis, AR, stopping by the Lady Luck on our way up to the St. Louis casinos.

I had some conflicting thoughts on the Lady Luck casino. The riverboat seemed small and incredibly crowded, but all of the employees were exceptionally friendly. Besides, I managed to win $110 playing craps there in a one-hour session. That was the second of three gaming sessions that day, all of which had positive outcomes, leading to unfounded confidence prior to my disastrous results the following day in St. Louis.

The chip shown below is another white RHC Paulson, this time with four, narrow, gray-blue edge inserts. The center inlay is mostly white with a Lady Luck logo and a drawn outline with a dozen convex scallops – sorry Ayecarumba, this one is not actually cut into that shape! At least the drawn outline is in a color to match the edge inserts.

Nothing on this chip fluoresces under UV light.

It's very interesting that the scallops are printed on, particularly since we know they have a die cut for that shape (or one very similar).

The only thing I can figure is that the scallop die was created AFTER these were made.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

... since we know they have a die cut for that shape ....

I took a quick look at my chips, and two from Indiana are the most obvious with this shape on the center inlay -- the ones in my posts for Grand Victoria and Hollywood.

In both cases, just a glance makes it seem that a fully-colored inlay has been cookie-cuttered in the twelve-convex-lobe shape. When I look closer, I suspect that the inlay is round with the printing field restricted to that shape. You seem to have some background in printing, so which seems more reasonable, an abrupt scalloped edge to the printed image or physically cutting the inlay to shape?

Here's my chip from the Lady Luck in Caruthersville. It's a Paulson RHC. The MOGH shows that it's the only denomination without a design on the inlay. Doc's $1 has the drawn scallop, $.50 has a sunburst, $25 has a hexagon, $100 has a gear pattern.

I visited the casino in the summer of 2010 on a loop that included the eastern half of Missouri and the southern half of Illinois. In a lot of ways, I thought that the Lady Luck was similar to Harrah's Metropolis. The land-based aspects of the Lady Luck are much nicer than the boat itself, the boat was small-but-crowded, and it's in a place that has a questionable/small market for a casino. I didn't play much at the Lady Luck at all. I signed up for the players club, got $10, won $40 from that, waited for a spot to open at a BJ table, grabbed a chip and lost $35 very quickly. In retrospect, I wish I'd spent more time at the Lady Luck. It took a while to get there from Metropolis, and it was also a long drive to Saint Louis. I probably should have at least walked around a bit before getting back in the car.

Sidenote: The MOGH has just informed me that both of the former Terribles casinos in MO have new chips in their new names. Damnit!

Quote: rdw4potus

... the former Terribles casinos in MO have new chips in their new names.

Thanks for the heads up. I've added those to my list of chips to get some day.

hehe...Scallops! Here's a fun scallop fact: When harvested fromt the ocean, scallops are 75% water. When sold at some major retailers, the scallops are 85% water, due to additives. Since scallops are sold by weight, consumers are paying extra for water. Perhaps the scallop designs are a subliminal poke at the players?...

I wonder why Isle of Capri sourced two different base designs for the Vicksburg, MS and Caruthersville, MO properties? I would think that they would get a better price on the base material buying in bulk (ala, Wynn/Encore in Las Vegas).

Quote: Ayecarumba

I wonder why Isle of Capri sourced two different base designs for the Vicksburg, MS and Caruthersville, MO properties? I would think that they would get a better price on the base material buying in bulk (ala, Wynn/Encore in Las Vegas).

That's a bit like my question (next to last paragraph in this post) about why they don't use their Paulson mold with the Isle of Capri name in the perimeter for all of their casinos with that name.

Supplier diversity is big in some industries. I don't know much about the financial health of casino chip makers, but maybe it's a hedge against failure by one supplier?

Or maybe it's a matter of timing. If the supply RFP/RFQs don't happen at the same time for all affiliated casinos, maybe different suppliers are submitting the best bids at different times.

rdw:

Supplier diversity may make sense in many cases, but in the case of these Lady Luck chips and the Isle of Capri chips, they are all being purchased from Paulson, just in different designs. It appears that the casino is paying for different designs for different facilities (rather than use the same mold or same inlay design) but always buying from the same supplier. What's the advantage there?

The one thing that pops to mind is that casinos usually keep a "spare" set of cheques in case the floor set is compromised. Perhaps Vicksburg had to pull theirs out of storage?

My other theory is that they were locked into a long term contract already, and changing would have been more expensive.

A third theory could be that it is done purposefully to prevent accidental or deliberate mixing between properties.

State: Missouri
City: St. Louis
Casino: Lumiere Place

(Edit 10/25/13: In the past, I have been able to have the first "e" in "Lumiere" appear with the proper grave accent mark, but that character doesn't seem to work here any more. I first noticed the problem showing up in the post #1 index listing for this casino/chip and then found the error showing up repeatedly here in this post. I don't know why/when this change in the forum took place. Rather than have a bunch of error marks in the post and the index, I just changed it to a non-accented "e" in each place.)


The name "Lumiere Place" seemed to me to be an Anglican variation on the French "Place Lumiere," keeping the accent grave from the French. My skill with Anglican variants is about as bad as my French, so I turned to that always reliable (yuk, yuk!) Google Translate. If I ask it to translate French-to-English and enter "Lumiere Place," I get the suggestion "Place of Light". If I enter "Place Lumiere," I get the suggestion "Light up." So, is the casino name a play on the Paris nickname of City of Lights or a promotion of smokers' rights?

The casino belongs to Pinnacle Entertainment and opened in downtown St. Louis in December 2007, a block from the Mississippi River and half a mile north of the Gateway to the West arch. (I included my snapshot of that arch in this thread back in November, behind a spoiler button in my post on the Casino Queen across the river in Illinois.) The Lumiere Place Casino is part of a rather high-end complex that offers lodging accommodations at either HotelLumiere or the Four Seasons-St. Louis.

My wife and I stayed at a cheaper place out on the west side of town when we visited last July, but we did have lunch in the Stadium Sports Bar and Grill right across an aisle from the Lumiere Place casino floor. That was immediately before I stepped across the aisle and experienced my biggest-losing craps session of our entire seven-day, eleven-casino trip. Bummer. At least the lunch was good.

The chip shown below is a white RHC Paulson with three purple edge inserts. The center inlay is almost the exact same design as yesterday's chip from the Lady Luck, with the dozen-convex-lobed outline. This time though, it is drawn in black rather than a color matching the edge inserts.

UV light reveals the repeated name of the casino, appearing alternately in support of both the French and the Anglicized, I suppose, as "Lumiere Place" and "Place Lumiere."

Mostly, that is. After I've posted a couple of UV images containing repeated names but without the expected errors, it's a bit of a relief to report a double "error" this time.

A double "error"? That is very interesting since I can't recall another with more than one.

It appears to be two separate errors that happened to fall back to back (or were deliberately placed back to back), rather than two errors in one appearance of the name, since that would mean the name starts with "Place".

Maybe the location used to be a "Lamps Plus" retail outlet?

Here's my Lumiere Place chip. Like the Lady Luck, this $5 chip seems to be the only one in the set with a "plain" inlay.

Saint Louis sure does have some high-end casinos. It's not hard to see how the President failed to draw crowds in a market that can support the Pinnacle properties, Hollywood, and Ameristar. Lumiere has a fantastic location, right by the river and the sports venues and the arch. I've had a hard time finding parking on each visit, which makes me wonder if most of their visitors do infact park somewhere else (stadium, hotel, etc.) and walk to the casino. Rivers in Chicago is a close contemporary to Lumiere Place in terms of feel; Horseshoe Cleveland is probably the closest fit in terms of location (and, for that matter, inaccessibility of parking). Neither of those venues is a bad comparison to have.

It does seem quite plain without the "cookie cutter".

A lack of parking can be the death of many businesses. Especially those that operate mainly at night. Are there mass transit options?

What about expansion? Is there room to grow?

Quote: Ayecarumba

It does seem quite plain without the "cookie cutter".

A lack of parking can be the death of many businesses. Especially those that operate mainly at night. Are there mass transit options?

What about expansion? Is there room to grow?

There is the "Metro Link" stop 0.2 miles from Lumiere Place, but I personally still would rather use my car.

Quote: Ayecarumba

It does seem quite plain without the "cookie cutter".

A lack of parking can be the death of many businesses. Especially those that operate mainly at night. Are there mass transit options?

What about expansion? Is there room to grow?

It's intentionally small, and in a crowded area. I think that is supposed to make it feel vibrant. Saint Louis has a great transit system (by non-New York American standards, anyway) and there's a MetroLink train station about 2 blocks from the casino. And the hotels and stadiums do have ample fee-based parking. I guess I should more accurately say that the availability of free parking for people wishing to patronize the casino and only the casino is scarce. But I think that's also a small slice of their target market. Really, those gamblers probably already go to Hollywood or Ameristar where they don't have to deal with driving downtown.

Quote: rdw4potus

It's intentionally small, and in a crowded area. I think that is supposed to make it feel vibrant. Saint Louis has a great transit system (by non-New York American standards, anyway) and there's a MetroLink train station about 2 blocks from the casino. And the hotels and stadiums do have ample fee-based parking. I guess I should more accurately say that the availability of free parking for people wishing to patronize the casino and only the casino is scarce. But I think that's also a small slice of their target market. Really, those gamblers probably already go to Hollywood or Ameristar where they don't have to deal with driving downtown.

Does the casino offer parking fee rebates? I avoid places that charge for parking whenever possible, and would be nervous about my safety, getting on mass transit after walking out of a high end casino.

Quote: Ayecarumba

Does the casino offer parking fee rebates? I avoid places that charge for parking whenever possible, and would be nervous about my safety, getting on mass transit after walking out of a high end casino.

I don't think they do offer parking fee rebates, but I'm not sure. I did eventually find a spot in their lot. And much of this is probably my own fault for going on a weekend (friday) evening after a Cardinals game. I may have just put myself in a bad situation, thought their lot really was quite small.

When I visited Lumière Place, I first attempted to park in the ground lot beside the casino, toward the river. I couldn't figure out how to get into it, so I tried the garage entrance off Carr Street (almost as confusing a name as that "Street Road" in Philadelphia). I didn't have too much trouble finding a parking space at mid-day on a Thursday, but I did think the routing of traffic within the garage was overly complicated.

In order to refresh my memory of that parking, I looked at the closeups on Google Maps. That raised a separate question for me, so I will ask it here. First, turn on the 45° view option for Google Maps, then zoom in on Lumière Place in St. Louis until the 45° view appears. Look to the east of the casino at the west bank of the river. That image shows a large riverboat docked there, but I can't make out the name of the boat. I don't know whether it is a casino boat that used to be located there or a cruising boat that sails the Mississippi River.

Does anyone know what that boat is? It doesn't appear in the scene until you zoom in to the 45° view. At lower magnification, you can see pilings that form a berth for the boat, but there don't appear to be any passenger ramps or the floating dock to serve a large riverboat.

Quote: Doc

Look to the east of the casino at the west bank of the river. That image shows a large riverboat docked there, but I can't make out the name of the boat. I don't know whether it is a casino boat that used to be located there or a cruising boat that sails the Mississippi River.

Does anyone know what that boat is? It doesn't appear in the scene until you zoom in to the 45° view. At lower magnification, you can see pilings that form a berth for the boat, but there don't appear to be any passenger ramps or the floating dock to serve a large riverboat.

That's the President, isn't it? I can't see the name on the picture, but I think that's the correct location for that boat.

Quote: rdw4potus

That's the President, isn't it? I can't see the name on the picture, but I think that's the correct location for that boat.

Thanks, rdw. I briefly checked, and it appears you are right. I guess that's the boat that Columbia Sussex unsuccessfully tried to buy, as mentioned in yesterday's post about the Lady Luck.

If I read the web posts correctly, the casino was named President but the boat was named Admiral, though some sites say that the boat was renamed as President. The President Casino chips shown on MOGH are labeled "President Casino on the Admiral."

I found this article that talks about the casino and boat shutting down in 2010, two years before I made it to St. Louis. They had been operating in St. Louis since 1994.

Quote: Doc

When I visited Lumière Place, I first attempted to park in the ground lot beside the casino, toward the river. I couldn't figure out how to get into it, so I tried the garage entrance off Carr Street (almost as confusing a name as that "Street Road" in Philadelphia). I didn't have too much trouble finding a parking space at mid-day on a Thursday, but I did think the routing of traffic within the garage was overly complicated.

In order to refresh my memory of that parking, I looked at the closeups on Google Maps. That raised a separate question for me, so I will ask it here. First, turn on the 45° view option for Google Maps, then zoom in on Lumière Place in St. Louis until the 45° view appears. Look to the east of the casino at the west bank of the river. That image shows a large riverboat docked there, but I can't make out the name of the boat. I don't know whether it is a casino boat that used to be located there or a cruising boat that sails the Mississippi River.

Does anyone know what that boat is? It doesn't appear in the scene until you zoom in to the 45° view. At lower magnification, you can see pilings that form a berth for the boat, but there don't appear to be any passenger ramps or the floating dock to serve a large riverboat.

I swung the view 90 degrees to the west (looking from the shore across the river), and the name "ADMIRAL" is clearly emblazoned across the upper rail.

Thanks, Ayecarumba! I had tried the same thing but looking from the opposite direction. I could read "CASINO" and didn't bother to look from the other side, because I made the false assumption that it would say the same thing on both sides.

Quote: Doc

Thanks, Ayecarumba! I had tried the same thing but looking from the opposite direction. I could read "CASINO" and didn't bother to look from the other side, because I made the false assumption that it would say the same thing on both sides.

No problem. Did you notice what appears to be logs piling up near the bow in the overhead view? It looks like the photo was taken after a storm or accident put a bunch of debris in the river.