Casino Chip of the Day

That list looks pretty good doc.

Yeah Doc! Last year at the Santa Ana Star I bought the 4 & 10 for 5 each and got paid 10 when it hit. I 7'd out more than it hit though.... Sky City is pretty small and the only craps table there is not open until early afternoon from what I recall.

Thanks, Konbu. I suspect quite a few of those casinos are small. I had never heard of most of them until I started searching casinocity.com for what all casinos might be in the area and trying to figure out just which ones really have table games and chips. I clarified that list when rdw4potus posted his Arizona chips last month, but I still missed a few until receiving comments yesterday.

It is very likely that we will get to Sky City mid afternoon or later. I expect to spend the night in the vicinity of Hon-Dah in Pinetop, AZ and will be driving over from there, stopping at Fire Rock along the way. I think we will then stop at Route 66 on our way into Albuquerque, so long as we arrive at a reasonable hour at whatever lodging we have picked out. I'm going to try to make the trip a fairly leisurely experience, with a few days of lying around or doing touristy things. No, rdw, I don't know the details of that yet; planning that part of the trip is a responsibility of the head of the household.

State: New Jersey
City: Atlantic City
Casino: Golden Nugget

The current edition of Atlantic City's Golden Nugget was originally completed in 1985 and encountered a very bad situation – the gaming license was denied. It was sold, opened, then changed names the first time in 1997. Both of those operating names had The Donald's name attached, and those places will be discussed a little later in this thread, when we get to the one relevant chip that I have.

In 2011, Landry's Restaurants (or perhaps some subsidiary) purchased the casino from Trump Entertainment Resorts. They already had the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas and were beginning to establish a new chain with that name. They have recently purchased and are currently in the process of renovating and converting one of the Biloxi casinos to be another Golden Nugget.

The Golden Nugget Atlantic City was the site of one of the infamous incidents of un-shuffled decks of cards in a baccarat game last year. It has been discussed in several threads here, including this one.

When I was there, not only did I not make a fortune off of casino incompetence and thereby get detained, I didn't even play baccarat. I played craps, of course, and I lost $175. My wife and I were in Atlantic City on August 25, 2011 for the first night of a planned trip to several spots in New Jersey (including my sister-in-law's place) and in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, Hurricane Irene came rolling in that evening and the following morning, so our entire itinerary collapsed in shambles. We headed inland first thing in the morning to begin what became known as our Grand Adventure, trying to evade the storm and have fun along the way. At least I added some chips to my collection that week, including this one from the Golden Nugget.

The chip shown below is a white RHC Paulson with four very narrow edge inserts, two each in black and gray. The center inlay appears to be quite undersized and mostly black, but in reality the inlay is a good bit larger than the black circle, with the outer ring area solid white. The black circle has the casino name and city/state in gold text and the script initials GN and the denomination in white.

UV light reveals a hidden Paulson logo in the center. In the photo, it appears that the white outer ring of the center inlay, the $1 denomination mark, and perhaps even the GN initials may be fluorescing, too, though in a purplish tone, but that is not really the case; I think that is just some of the smooth white surface areas of the inlay reflecting the violet portion of the spectrum that is emitted by my UV lamp.

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I just noticed the "top" threads list and realized that this thread only needs 900 more posts to move up another position. (Ha!) Guess the Spanish word thread has an abundant safety margin, even with no additional activity. Just how many days worth of chips do you have available to post, rdw4potus?

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Quote: Doc

I just noticed the "top" threads list and realized that this thread only needs 900 more posts to move up another position. (Ha!) Guess the Spanish word thread has an abundant safety margin, even with no additional activity. Just how many days worth of chips do you have available to post, rdw4potus?

There are 540 chips in my current collection. I may collect as many as 300 more before the end of the year. How many have we already covered? How much discussion can we have about Garlic City and Artichoke Joes and the Hustler Casino when they come up?

Here's my chip from the GN in AC. The chip is a Paulson RHC with light blue and cream colored insets. I've only visited one time since the ownership change. For whatever reason, the property just isn't in a place that I go. I'll make destinations of Borgata and Harrah's, but I see no compelling need to attend GN instead of a boardwalk property.

Does Landry's also own the GN in Laughlin? I wonder if they'll make a play for a location in Tunica or Saint Louis or KC.

Quote: rdw4potus

Does Landry's also own the GN in Laughlin?

Yes. They acquired the Laughlin and Las Vegas properties in completely separate transactions in September 2005. I'm not sure which purchase was closed first, but they were very close together.

Quote: rdw4potus

There are 540 chips in my current collection. I may collect as many as 300 more before the end of the year. How many have we already covered?

So far, this thread has posts of chips from 294 casinos. I'm not sure just how many of those are not represented in your collection, but I think only a few and mostly those that went out of business before you started collecting. If you do get 300 more, then that suggests you will have at least 546 more chips to post after today. I'm pretty sure that I have a few more in my collection that aren't in yours, particularly cruise ships and international ones. Then there are all those casinos that neither of us have been to but some other members have, and maybe they will post images here in turn.

With at least a couple of replies to each daily chip post, there really should be enough ammunition (mostly in your ammo belt) for this thread to survive to reach the top spot. Yep, I guess it's possible.

Should we try to set an over/under date for when that might happen? Just because of the symbolism, I'm going make the highly-optimistic guess that it could happen while we are in Las Vegas for WoVCon ]I[. That won't be the case if the thread goes through dead periods like the weekends often are.

Quote: Doc

Yes. They acquired the Laughlin and Las Vegas properties in completely separate transactions in September 2005. I'm not sure which purchase was closed first, but they were very close together.

Note that "Landry's" is owned by the third Fertitta brother[ (correction: a Fertitta cousin), Tillman (Lorenzo and Frank III, own Stations Casinos, and control the UFC empire). I am not sure how close they are, but I assume there is some "cross-pollination" going on between their competing casino businesses.

Quote: Ayecarumba

Note that "Landry's" is owned by the third Fertitta brother...

I thought he was a cousin, not a brother. Do I have that wrong?

Quote: Doc

I thought he was a cousin, not a brother. Do I have that wrong?

No. You are correct Doc. I'll make a correction. Thanks!

State: New Jersey
City: Atlantic City
Casino: Harrah's Marina

Bill Harrah planned his third casino (following Reno and Lake Tahoe) for Atlantic City and chose a location in the Marina District, well away from the Boardwalk where all of the other casinos were located. The plan had not come to fruition when he died in 1978. In 1980, Harrah's Inc., including all three of the casino and planned-casino properties, was sold to Holiday Inn.

I guess this is a convenient place to tell a chapter of the convoluted Harrah's/Caesars history that I don't think I have gotten to before. Holiday Inn owned a share of a casino next to their hotel on the strip in Las Vegas, and after purchasing Harrah's Inc., they opened the Harrah's Marina in Atlantic City late in 1980, opened Bill's Casino in Lake Tahoe in 1987 and Harrah's Laughlin in 1988.

In 1990, there was a split, and I'm not at all sure I have the whole story. Part of Holiday Inn was sold to a British firm and part was spun off as a new entity known as The Promus Companies, which included the casino businesses that had continued to expand. Promus further split in 1995, separating the remaining hotel businesses from the casino operations, which were then renamed Harrah's Entertainment. After that came the highly-leveraged, take-it-private maneuvers, the purchase of Caesars Entertainment, and all that other stuff. End of chapter.

After buying Harrah's Inc., Holiday Inn revised the planned name of the Atlantic City Casino to Holiday Inn Marina Casino. Later, while the construction was still underway, they recognized the value of the Harrah's name in the casino industry and chose to use the original name for the property: Harrah's Marina.

The MOGH catalog has a single example of a $1 chip with the Holiday Inn Marina name, a chip that apparently never entered play. That web page claims that the Holiday Inn was "Denied gaming license and never opened", but I have not found any other reference to that tale. I suspect that it's just an error, since the same company continued to own the property when it did open under the Harrah's banner with a casino license. Maybe the "denied" comment on that web page just means that Holiday Inn never completed the application process for a casino license with the Holiday Inn Marina name.

Because I didn't keep early records of my casino visits and gaming, I'm not sure when I first visited Harrah's Marina and got my souvenir chip. My wife and I stayed at the place that night in August 2011 that I mentioned in yesterdays Chip of the Day post, when Hurricane Irene blew in and began our Grand Adventure. On that visit, I won a grand total of $25 playing craps, far too little to make up for my losses across the street.

By the time of that visit, the Harrah's Marina casino name had changed to Harrah's Atlantic City, though I don't know just when that change took place. I apparently wasn't paying attention and didn't pick up a new souvenir chip with the revised name. I frequently re-visit casinos that are using a newer issue of chips than the one in my collection, but I generally pick up on when the place has actually changed names and warrants a new souvenir for the "new" casino. I'll have to make up for that oversight on my next visit to Atlantic City, when I also plan to pick up one from the not-open-just-yet-with-a-new-name Margaritaville.

(Side note to rdw4potus: if your chip says "Harrah's Atlantic City" without reference to the marina, why not hold off posting that one, and we can add it to the directory as a "different" casino while you are leading the thread. Maybe I will have one to post by then as well.)

On the other hand, this is a reminder that everyone who has a different souvenir chip with the same casino name as the one I post is invited to post their chip image, too. If you have one from "Harrah's Marina", please post it now. On the bizarre chance you happen to have your own Holiday Inn Marina casino chip, I would be delighted to see it and to hear the tale of how you got it.

There was one other Atlantic City Casino that briefly bore the Harrah's name, the joint-venture Harrah's Trump Plaza Casino, aka Harrah's at Trump Plaza, which operated under that name until it was renamed just plain Trump Plaza Casino. More on that when I get to a relevant chip, which won't say Harrah's.

The chip shown below is a white, plastic injection molded chip with the center being a silver-toned coin insert within a surrounding black ring. The Harrah's name is shown in black on the outer ring -- note the club suit pip being used as the apostrophe! The rest of the name – Marina Hotel-Casino – appears both in black on the outer ring and impressed into the center coin, while the denomination appears twice on the ring and once on the coin. There are four black diamonds on the edge of the coin, aligned with the center of the denomination marks and names and not visible in the photo.

The MOGH catalog indicates that this chip is from Bud Jones, but I do not see any logo and do not have any other basis for identifying the manufacturer. MOGH shows several variations of this chip, some with edge "inserts" and some with a gray ring around the coin instead of the black one. The unused Holiday Inn Marina chip in that catalog is identical to this chip except instead of "Harrah's", it says "Holiday Inn" in their script font.

Nothing on this chip fluoresces under UV light.

I like the chips with the metal inserts. It has an aura of permanence about it. The description says "silvertone" but the image actually looks like brass on my monitor.

Here's my chip from Harrah's Marina. The center of this chip is definitely silvertone. I wonder if it's the same color as doc's, or if there's a difference between the coloring on the $1 and $5 chips.

Your Caesars history brought to mind a rather strange situation that existed for a while at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas (possibly other juristictions as well). When Disney bought ITT Sheraton and had control of Casesars Palace it put them in a conflict of interest situation because they also owned the Anaheim Ducks (then still the 'Mighty Ducks of Anaheim'). The regulators made the sport book at CP pull out all NHL gambling from the book. I was a little pissed at the time because I always stayed at Caesars and the only sports book betting I did was on the NHL since it was the only sport I followed closely enough to have any chance of winning.

Quote: Ayecarumba

The description says "silvertone" but the image actually looks like brass on my monitor.

The coin on my chip is the same color/tone as the one on rdw4potus's chip; we just have different lighting in the photos. Some of these coin inserts get discolored, as if they were rusting. I don't know what kind of exposure or mistreatment it takes to cause that. I don't have any examples like that in my collection, because I only keep one chip of a kind and try to avoid the ones that look really nasty.

A quick scan over the display on my desk top indicates that the chip I posted from the Colorado Belle in Laughlin is the only one I have with a brass coin insert.

Quote: kenarman

When Disney bought ITT Sheraton and had control of Casesars Palace it put them in a conflict of interest situation because they also owned the Anaheim Ducks.

That is an interesting trivia piece, kenarman. These corporate buyouts can become quite convoluted, and I had not (still have not) found another reference to Disney having acquired ITT Sheraton and Caesars.

ITT had purchased Sheraton Hotels in 1968 and called that division ITT Sheraton. As I included in my post with the Caesars chip, I had found that ITT also purchased Caesars World in 1995, but I wasn't and still am not sure whether they included it in their ITT Sheraton division. When I said that ITT was purchased by Starwood Hotels in 1998, that was a reference to their non-manufacturing and non-insurance businesses, which included the hotels and the casinos.

When was it that Disney bought ITT Sheraton and Caesars? I just can't find anything about that. (Hey, I'm not pacomartin!)

Quote: Doc

That is an interesting trivia piece, kenarman. These corporate buyouts can become quite convoluted, and I had not (still have not) found another reference to Disney having acquired ITT Sheraton and Caesars.

ITT had purchased Sheraton Hotels in 1968 and called that division ITT Sheraton. As I included in my post with the Caesars chip, I had found that ITT also purchased Caesars World in 1995, but I wasn't and still am not sure whether they included it in their ITT Sheraton division. When I said that ITT was purchased by Starwood Hotels in 1998, that was a reference to their non-manufacturing and non-insurance businesses, which included the hotels and the casinos.

When was it that Disney bought ITT Sheraton and Caesars? I just can't find anything about that. (Hey, I'm not pacomartin!)

I have been researching the company histories and can't put it together the way my memory had it. During my research I did find reference to ITT owning the NY Knicks. When my wife and I were making regular trips to Caesars we usually travelled with her sister and husband. My brother-in-law is an avid NBA fan and maybe the ban was on NBA betting and he was the one that was pissed. That still doesn`t sit right with my memory but memories are not always accurate. I will talk to my brother-in-law and see what his memory is. If it was the NBA then it would have occurred from 1995 to 1998 during the ITT ownership which seems about the right years and length of time.

Quote: kenarman

I have been researching the company histories and can't put it together the way my memory had it.

That is completely understandable. As I said, "These corporate buyouts can become quite convoluted." I'm not saying at all that Disney wasn't involved, only that I can't find anything about that. Everytime I want to make some post about how the Harrah's and Caesars histories developed, I have to go back and look some of it up. Just how was it that Jay Sarno, Bill Harrah, and the Perlman brothers had something to do with Hilton and Sheraton???

As a side note, I really like the comment (found on Wiki, of course) about how the two founders of the Sheraton Hotel chain selected their corporate name:

Quote: Wiki

The chain got its name from another early hotel that the pair had acquired, which had a lighted sign on the roof saying "Sheraton Hotel" which was large and heavy and therefore too expensive to change. Instead, they decided to call all their hotels by that name.

State: New Jersey
City: Atlantic City
Casino: Hilton

Today's Casino Chip of the Day is from the first of several New Jersey casinos that presented me some challenge in choosing their proper places in the sequence. Should the Atlantic City Hilton be alphabetized under "A" or "H"?

I admit that I had established a precedent by sequencing the Las Vegas Hilton under "L", right between Las Vegas Club and Las Vegas Hotel, but I am exercising my right to whimsy this time, so this chip is sequenced based on the Hilton name. Otherwise, it would have come right before the same establishment under its new name, and this way gives a little more variety. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. For now, at least.

Steve Wynn built up his rep by reinvigorating the Golden Nugget Casino in downtown Las Vegas. He then purchased a motel on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, tore it down, and built that city's original Golden Nugget Casino. (Landry's/Tilman Fertitta is not the first to try to build a casino chain under this name!) The casino opened in December 1980 as New Jersey's sixth legal casino.

Wynn had conflict with the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, which questioned his suitability to own a license in the state and initially would only give him a temporary. He eventually received a full license but then sold the casino to Bally Manufacturing in 1987. Because of his conflict with NJCCC, he declared he would never return to the Atlantic City market, but the voice coming out of the other side of his mouth was planning for a Mirage Atlantic City Casino in the Marina District, a project that was never completed.

In 1995, Hilton Hotels acquired Bally, by then renamed Bally Entertainment, and the casino was renamed the Atlantic City Hilton in 1996. Resorts International and Colony Capital jointly acquired the property in 2005 and continued to use the Hilton name under license. In 2011, Hilton ended the agreement, and the name was changed to ACH and then The Atlantic Club in 2012.

I played at the Atlantic City Hilton on my first visit to the city in August 2004. My wife and I were staying at the Tropicana for a single night. In the morning, I let her sleep in a bit and hiked it down the planks of the boardwalk to the Hilton for a quick game and a souvenir. I didn't keep a record of the game, but the souvenir is documented below.

The chip is a white custom Paulson with four edge inserts, two each in dark green and gray. The Hilton name is molded twice into the outer ring, along with the denomination mark twice.

The oversized center inlay has some of those characteristics I described on the Bally's chip a few days ago – it looks as if it could really be two inlays, one a standard size center circle with an image of the hotel with the other one on top of it, much larger, mostly clear, with the name Atlantic City Hilton overlaying the molded Hilton name. I have no way to tell whether that is the case, but if it is, they did a dang good job of getting them aligned. Probably it's just a single center inlay.

UV light reveals the hidden Paulson logo in the center with nothing else fluorescing.

Here's my chip from the Atlantic City Hilton. It's pretty much a red version of Doc's chip, with a different secondary image in the inlay. I think I prefer the $1 chip's diamond thingy to the $5 chip's squiggly line thingy.

The four point star on the $1 I can understand, but what is the red "squiggly line thingy"? Is it blood dripping from the window of the upper floors?

I think it's a long ribbon from a female gymnast's floor exercise routine that got out of hand.

Quote: Ayecarumba

Here's some Caesars trivia... Did you know Septimus Severus was African? I don't recall any other chips with images of black guys on them (or other non-whites for that matter)?

See the things you miss while at work...

Severus was born in Africa, but he was not "ethnically" African. Italian and other European Romans settled and colonized several of the Empire's African provinces. Severus was of Italian stock.

Overall I classify him as a lousy emperor, too. I'm surprised Caesar has his face on a chip. Let alone he was a double-crossing, traitorous SOB (all emperors were to some degree). But he 1) gave the army too much power and influence, thus setting things up for the 3rd Century Crisis and 2) left the empire to his sons along with the following advice "Be harmonious. Enrich the soldiers and scorn all other men."

I won't hold him responsible for all that his sons did afterwards, but the surviving one, Caracalla, did heed the second part of his father's advice. No wonder the Severan dinasty is often referred to as "troubled."

State: New Jersey
City: Atlantic City
Casino: Resorts

After posting this chip, I won't be able to participate in today's discussions, so I hope the rest of you can have some lively interactions in my absence. If anything comes up, I can offer my comments tomorrow morning. I'm not available today because my wife and I, along with a couple of neighbors, are driving up to Harrah's Cherokee for the day. It's about a three-hour drive each direction. If we don't lose our money too quickly, and if the snowfall that's predicted for tomorrow doesn't slip in early and trap us there, we plan to get back home around midnight.


Today's Casino Chip of the Day is from Resorts, Atlantic City's very first casino. Resorts International was a booster of the initiative to legalize gambling in New Jersey, and as that effort progressed, they acquired property on the Boardwalk. When approval was given in late 1976, they began renovation/conversion of the existing Haddon Hall, a hotel that was developed in the 1920s. Renovation was not what the state wanted – they really wanted new construction – but since Resorts was the first to the game, their efforts were supported.

The casino opened in May 1978. The place did well initially, but it couldn't keep up with the competition when it arrived. They tried to compete by expanding and began to develop the Taj Mahal Casino. Unfortunately, they didn't have the finances to complete that effort. Donald Trump tried to take over the company in 1988 and bought in significantly, but Merv Griffin wanted it, too. Eventually, the two of them cooperated and picked through the available plunder, with Trump keeping the Taj Mahal project and Griffin paying and taking the operating casino.

Griffin sold out to Sun International in 1998, and they sold the place to Colony Capital in 2001. Throughout this period, the Resorts name was kept on the property, though for a while it was sometimes called "Merv Griffin's Resorts" casino. I think (not completely sure) that the Resorts International corporate name was maintained also, with others just owning that company.

In late 2009, the property was having such financial difficulty that they couldn't meet the mortgage payments. They reached agreement to have the loan cancelled and turned this one property over to a group of the lenders, who owned it under the newly-formed RAC Atlantic City Holdings. Resorts International continues to operate other facilities as Resorts International Holdings, a company controlled by Colony Capital.

If that's not enough excitement in ownership, things really started to get sticky about a year later. The lenders group sold the property to DMGB Casinos, which seems to be controlled by some of the (former?) Resorts executives. The Resorts/Colony Capital corporate folks apparently didn't like the way everything went down and sued both the group of lenders and their buyers. I think the synopsis is that everyone thinks they should have gotten more of what money there was, but I can't follow all the complexities. If the subject interests you, here and here are some articles about it.

I didn't dig into it far enough to learn how the lawsuits turned out, but during 2012 DMGB made two big announcements. In July, they announced that they would be making an addition to the casino under the Margaritaville name, and construction began in November, right after Hurricane Sandy blew through. A few days ago, I referred to this Margaritaville as a re-named casino, but I think that the Resorts name will stay, with "Margaritaville" added for the new complex, perhaps something like at the Flamingo-Margaritaville in Las Vegas. It's supposed to open in May, and I'll check it out the next time I get to Atlantic City.

Also, in August 2012, they announced that they had reached an agreement for the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority to take over management of the casino. I don't know how that relates to the Margaritaville complex.

I'm pretty sure that I went to Resorts and collected my souvenir on that first visit to Atlantic City in 2004, but I don't have any records. If I've ever been back, I've forgotten all about that, too.

The chip shown below is a white RHC Paulson with three purple/fuchsia edge inserts. As I look at the photo, the chip seems to be quite dirty and dinged. Until I started this write-up, I had not realized that the two sides of the chip had different images on the center inlays, and I had to scramble to get another photo. That's why the images look so different; I seem to set things up differently every time I get the camera out and don't replicate the lighting.

One side shows what looks like a corporate shield, while the other side looks almost identical to the chip I posted from the company's casino in Tunica, Mississippi, with a suckers-invited image of a Big-6 wheel.

UV light reveals that the three edge inserts fluoresce and that there is a hidden Paulson logo near the center.

Here's my chip from Resorts in AC. It's kind of funny - I have only one picture of this chip, and only one picture of my chip from Resorts Tunica. They're pictures of the opposite sides of an otherwise identical (save for the location) chip. I'm almost certain that wasn't intentional.

I may not make it back to AC before June. Sounds like I may have a chip or two to collect at that time - and those may both be from one casino! The last time I was in AC, there were signs all over the place about using points in AC, PA, and CT. I didn't think about it at the time, but now I'm wondering if that means that MS is completely separated point system from AC.

Quote: rdw4potus

It's kind of funny - I have only one picture of this chip, and only one picture of my chip from Resorts Tunica. They're pictures of the opposite sides of an otherwise identical (save for the location) chip.

Just got back from Cherokee. Thought I would check in on this thread and then tell a little story from my experience today.

As for your "otherwise identical" chips, rdw, I just checked my Resorts Tunica chip again and verified that it does not have the shield but has the Big-6 wheel on both sides. Your $5 chip from there probably has the roulette wheel on both sides. The MOGH catalog does indicate that your Resorts Atlantic City chip has the shield (which you posted) and the roulette wheel on the opposite side.

As for my day at Harrah's Cherokee, the gambling results were a complete disaster. Don't even want to think about it. Fifteen minutes before we were set to leave the casino at 9:00 P.M. for the drive home, I was still at the craps table losing my last few chips. A guy came up to the table, taking the open position next to me, and I noticed his shirt. It was a bright orange knit golf shirt embroidered with the Wizard of Odds logo!

I asked him, "Are you a Mike Shackleford fan?", and he said, "Yes, I am."

I then asked, "Do you participate in his discussion forum?", and he said, "Yes, I do."

I asked, "What user name do you go by?", and he said, "RaleighCraps." I stared at him with what had to be a real dumbass expression, and he asked, "What do you go by?" I said, "Doc," and we just stared at each other for a while.

You see, RaleighCraps and I had met in person in Biloxi almost three years ago and played craps together. We met for the second time ever this evening, and neither of us recognized the other! I guess I can explain that with two points: (1) I am senile and have the CRS disease. (2) I'm not memorable enough for anyone to recognize on a second meeting.

Anyway, I still have it on the calendar on my phone that my wife and I met RaleighCraps and his wife at the Beau Rivage on March 18, 2010 not long after they arrived on their junket flight from Raleigh. I think he and his wife need to come to some WoVCons so that we recognize each other more quickly. If he hadn't had on that shirt, we would never have known that we were playing beside each other. Small world, I guess.

I'm catching up with the New Jersey casinos and just read the Hilton post. As stated it began as the Golden Nugget. Next it was called Ballys Grand and then just The Grand. I stayed and played at them all.

You are correct, and I didn't give much in the way of details about the period that Bally owned the property. They bought it from Wynn in either 1986 or 1987 (my unreliable sources disagree) and sold it to Hilton in either 1995 or 1996 (more disagreement). I guess I never said anything about what they called it. The MOGH catalog collection shows only "Bally's Grand" on their standard chips but has a few commemorative or special edition chips that say "The Grand" or "The Grand -- a Bally's Casino Resort". I wouldn't be surprised if most of the chips in play said "Bally's Grand" until the Hilton chips were in use. I think the Hilton name was first used in 1997, but I could be in error on that, too.

Thanks for the input! The place was called the Atlantic City Hilton by the time I first got there myself.

State: New Jersey
City: Atlantic City
Casino: Revel

The Revel opened on March 26, 2012, less than eleven months ago, as the most northern of the Boardwalk casinos in Atlantic City. Numerous threads in this forum have covered the casino and its (mis)management, including one that is now discussing the recent announcement that Revel Entertainment Group is "exploring a pre-packaged bankruptcy." Since I was away from home yesterday, I haven't yet caught up on the discussion there.

I think my wagers at the tables may be less risky "investments" than putting up money for a new casino. If you check out the Wiki page on Revel, you can see reports of money problems well before the place opened. They scaled back the plans in 2008 and suspended construction from March 2009 until February 2011. Eventually the got the place built, but they apparently didn't know enough about how to manage a casino to net any money. Other than, perhaps, some folks making money through a bankruptcy.

Way, way back in this thread, DJTeddyBear posted images of the Revel chips from his visit on opening day. That gave us an opportunity early on to discuss some of the interesting markings on the center inlays: triangles, circles (eyeballs?), electron orbits, stars.

I didn't make it to the Revel until a Wednesday afternoon in July, when I had lunch there and lost a bundle at their craps table – well, $300, which is a "bundle" loss for a 90-minute session for this low roller. At least I got a souvenir before they close up shop, just in case they do. Unfortunately, my $1 chip doesn't have any of those fancy marks on the inlay.

The chip is a white RHC Paulson with two triangular edge inserts in turquoise and black. The center inlay is black with simple white text for the casino name, denomination, and city (no state ID).

At first glance, it appears that UV light reveals a hidden ".1", but that is not the case. It is a mostly-obscured Paulson logo, obscured by the black of the center inlay. The "decimal point" is where the tip of the cane peeks through the white "$", and the "1" is part of the white denomination numeral illuminated by the Paulson hat.

Very simple and chic inlay design.

State: New Jersey
City: Atlantic City
Casino: Showboat

We seem once again to be having a "weekend" level of interest -- surprisingly little commentary about Revel and no comments about my Friday evening encounter at the Harrah's Cherokee. Ah, well, on to the next installment....

The Showboat Hotel and Casino opened in March 1987 with a New Orleans Mardi Gras theme. It has a French Quarter Buffet, a House of Blues restaurant, and House of Blues suites. The original hotel tower was/is known as the Bourbon Tower, and more recently the hotel added an Orleans Tower. Yep, New Orleans Mardi Gras theme.

In December 1997, Harrah's agreed to purchase Showboat Inc., closing the deal in 1998. This December article from the NY Times reporting on the agreed purchase says the deal was valued at $519 million, while this one from Travel Weekly the same week puts the figure at $1.1 Billion. I didn't dig through to find the source of the discrepancy, but perhaps it goes to show how casino purchase/sale figures can sometimes be misleading.

No matter what the price was, Harrah's purchased the company and sold off some assets, but the casino in Atlantic City now belongs to Caesars Entertainment. Somewhere along the way, the name changed to Showboat Atlantic City, which is what my chip says. The casino's license is in the name of Showboat Atlantic City Operating Company.

Showboat is one more of the casinos that I visited on my first trip to Atlantic City in 2004, and, just as for the others, I have no records of my play.

The chip shown below is a white, custom Paulson with four narrow edge inserts, two each in red and brown. The name of the casino and the denomination are molded into the outer ring of the chip twice each. The molded name and the one on the center insert are both in a font that looks a lot like the one used by the Boomtown casinos. (Anyone know what that font is called?) The name on the center inlay is topped with what looks like either a showgirl's feather fan, or perhaps a paddlewheel from a riverboat, either of which would work with the Showboat name.

UV light reveals an unusual Paulson logo – small, off-center, tilted 45° from the direction of the visible printing on the center inlay, and in a reversed orientation from the way the canes are usually shown.

Much has been said about Revel in this forum but I'll offer this. Most people give them credit for the massive beach beach restoration in front the property and they're not quick to offer a correction. It's the New Jersey DEP and the US Army Corp of Engineers that is responsible. Yup, we the people.

What can I say about Showboat other than it could use some updates. Did you know that you can walk from Showboat to Taj to Resorts and back without going outside?

I like Showboat. It's probably my favorite property in A.C. The rooms are all very nice, and cheap or free usually. I've had a fantastic meal every time I've gone to their buffet. Scarduzio's is a terrific Italian restaurant. The House of Blues area is really nice and the food is good. The casino floor is bright and cheerful and has a good selection of table games, and good video poker can be found.

I think it's just nicer than you would expect for CET's fourth-tier property in A.C. They keep it up better than Bally's or Resorts. Seems fresher. Like the sandwich shop in the back, too.

Showboat also has one of the two Johnny Rockets that are in Boardwalk casinos. I've never had any complaints at any Showboat eatery.

When you were doing your research did you notice whether the Showboat in Las Vegas was the same original ownership as Showboat AC (Showboat Inc). Since it also became Harrahs about the same time I would assume so but in the wonderfull world of casino ownership it is never safe to assume.

Quote: kenarman

When you were doing your research did you notice whether the Showboat in Las Vegas was the same original ownership as Showboat AC (Showboat Inc). Since it also became Harrahs about the same time I would assume so but in the wonderfull world of casino ownership it is never safe to assume.

Well, I hadn't really done much in the way of "research" on Showboat, Inc. In response to your question I found this web page that gives a Harrah's corporate history that is perhaps more accurate and more complete than what I have reported previously, since it comes directly from Caesars.com. Here is what it has to say about the Showboat acquisition:

Quote: Harrah's history

June 1998
Harrah's completes its $1 billion acquisition of Showboat, Inc. The purchase gives Harrah's four additional properties, located in Atlantic City, East Chicago, Ind., Las Vegas and Sydney, Australia. Harrah's later sells the Las Vegas and Australia properties, while the Indiana property is renamed Harrah's East Chicago.

History of the Las Vegas Showboat provides a study of name confusion. There have been two casinos (at least) in Las Vegas known as Castaways, neither of which I ever visited. The earlier one existed on the strip from 1963 to 1987, was owned for a while by Howard Hughes, and was located on land that Steve Wynn used for the Mirage and Treasure Island. The later one (just to provide some confusion, I suppose) operated under that name for a few years early this century on Boulder Highway. That Boulder Highway casino had previously been the Showboat. Here are excerpts from what the Wiki page has to say about it.

Quote: Wiki

Showboat, Inc. expanded over time, opening Showboat Atlantic City in 1987, Sydney Harbor Casino in 1995, and Showboat Mardi Gras in East Chicago in 1997.

The hotel was successful until the 1990s when it suffered the same fate as the downtown casinos, which were losing business to the new megaresorts on the Las Vegas Strip. Many visitors also believed that this casino was located on the Strip since the exterior of Harrah's Las Vegas resembled a showboat.

In 1998, Harrah's Entertainment bought Showboat, Inc. for $1.15 billion. ... They sold the Showboat in 2000 for $23.5 million to VSS Enterprises.... Harrah's refused to sell the Showboat name, not wanting the Las Vegas property to be confused with Showboat Atlantic City, so VSS renamed it as the Castaways.

Thanks for the info Doc.

State: New Jersey
City: Atlantic City
Casino: Tropicana

Ramada purchased an existing hotel on the Boardwalk with the plan to renovate it as their casino property. Even though just such a plan had been approved for the Resorts casino hotel, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission rejected the Ramada plan. The whole concept of using casinos to rebuild the Atlantic City and New Jersey economy was based on expected new construction, not just what was referred to as "patch and paint" remodeling of existing hotels.

The NJCCC told Ramada they needed to tear down the old hotel and build new from the ground. In response, Ramada threatened to sue. A compromise was reached that allowed/required them to use just the steel structure of the original hotel, gutting and totally rebuilding it. The complex opened in November 1981 with 521 guest rooms and has been expanded extensively with several additions. Ramada had recently purchased the Tropicana Las Vegas and chose to build on the recognition of that name by using it in Atlantic City.

Less than a year after it opened, they added an indoor amusement area (a bit like Circus Circus, I suppose) and subsequently renamed the whole place TropWorld. The amusement area was removed during some renovations in the mid-90s, and the name was changed back to Tropicana in 1996.

By then, Ramada had split off their casinos as Aztar Corporation, which was bought by Columbia Sussex in 2005. By early 2007, Aztar had been incorporated in Columbia Sussex's other casino operations under the name Tropicana Entertainment LLC. Along the way, they had taken drastic measures to reduce expenses and increase profit by major reductions in staffing. There was a lot of concern that these reductions might be leading to violation of some gaming regulations.

By late that year, the NJCCC was holding hearings, and by the end of the year they had denied renewal of the license. The property was placed under trustee control, eventually being sold under a bankruptcy auction. The new owner was known as Tropicana Entertainment, with it being stressed that this was a different company than the previous Tropicana Entertainment LLC. At least one source says the sale was not completed until 2010.

My wife and I stayed at the Tropicana on our first visit to Atlantic City in 2004. Two things I read along about that time helped me put a bit of the casino resort picture a little more in perspective. One was a report that the Tropicana had the largest hotel in the entire state of New Jersey. That probably has changed by now, but that's what I read then. The other point was that a hotel the size of the Tropicana Atlantic City would be run-of-the-mill on the Las Vegas strip. I thought that showed a clear distinction between the two markets.

Not too long after that, we were back in Las Vegas, and I was playing in the Tropicana LV casino. A player did something that a dealer wanted to belittle him for, so the dealer made the crack, "This ain't Atlantic City." I was right on the verge of saying, "You're right – in Atlantic City, the Tropicana has a much bigger and nicer casino than this." I was able to restrain myself, though. While the Tropicana LV casino is much smaller than the one at the namesake place in Atlantic City, the Las Vegas hotel is bigger -- bigger than any hotel at that time in the entire state of New Jersey while looking like a rather small place on the strip!

The chip shown below is a custom white Paulson, with four pink edge inserts. The name of the casino is molded twice into the outer ring of the chip, along with the denomination twice. This same basic chip design is used on almost all of the non-commemorative Tropicana Atlantic City chips shown in the MOGH catalog.

I really like chips with the casino name molded in and recently noticed how common this type of custom Paulson chip is in my collection of New Jersey chips. The same basic custom chip configuration was used for my chips from Bally's, Caesars, Hilton, Showboat, Tropicana, and all three of the Trump-named casinos that I haven't yet covered.

This Tropicana chip has different center inlays on the two sides, with one just having the denomination inside a center circle and the casino name and city (no state) around the outside on top of the molded name. The other side shows a red/orange-suited harlequin character in the center holding a five-card (poker?) hand and the casino name, city, and denomination around the outside. I think it's an interesting touch that the back of the harlequin's cards have a diamond shape, like the Welcome-to-Las-Vegas sign -- that shape is used in the Tropicana logos used by both the Las Vegas and Atlantic City properties, and perhaps by the other Tropicanas.

UV light reveals the hidden Paulson logo in the center and the fact that the edge inserts fluoresce, making those triangular spots where they shine through the center inlay. Why is it that the glowing spots are so much bigger than the edge inserts? I still don't know.



Edit 3/18/13: On 3/17, our member sodawater posted here an old chip from the Tropicana.

Doc,

Sorry for the several day late response. to your question about the weird theme of the Bally's chips. But I fell behind on this thread.
I think the reason the Bally's chips in question have a cactus and a mountain on them is because they were used in the Wild Wild West part of the casino. The table games area is now closed (just Coyote Kates Slot Parlor, and the Mountain Bar, are all that's operating in that part of the building). WWW for those that didn't know was between Bally's and Caesars in AC..they operated it, sort of, as an independent casino. But used Bally's chips and staff.

Quote: vendman1

... I fell behind on this thread.

Thanks for your input and for your interest in the thread. I think I am constantly on the verge of falling behind on the thread myself.

:-)

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

I kept stumbling over the name "Hilton" as I tried to prepare this post. First, when I posted my chip from the Hilton, I said it was from one of several Atlantic City casinos that presented me with challenges in choosing their proper places in the alphabetical sequence. That one was a problem because I was unsure whether to sort it by "Hilton" or "Atlantic City Hilton."

The others for which I was uncertain of the proper sequence are the ones that have "Trump" in the name – should I sort them all based on The Donald's name or just by the rest of the name and disregard his? Eventually, I decided I should list them together under "T". If they sold the Taj Mahal to Disney or Spielberg and added that name in place of Trump's then I would want to treat the place as a "new" casino under the new name. Thus, I do not consider either Harrah's Marina or Trump Marina to be the "Marina Casino."

In addition, there have been several other casinos in Atlantic City that bore the Trump name at least briefly but that I never visited. Some day, perhaps, someone else will post chips from those casinos in this thread, and this sorting technique will identify an appropriate place for them in the directory.

The second place I stumbled over the Hilton name in preparing this post was in the original construction of the casino to be discussed today. Hilton Hotels built the casino with the intent of calling that one the Atlantic City Hilton, but the NJCCC denied them a gaming license then because of alleged ties to organized crime. They sold the almost-complete facility to Trump, who had successfully passed the NJCCC's review and already owned one casino hotel in the city.

He opened his marina district property in 1985 under the name "Trump's Castle" and changed the name to Trump Marina in 1997. During that period, Trump had formed the public corporation Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts, which became Trump Entertainment Resorts. Donald, himself, resigned as chairman of the board in 2009 after the company filed for bankruptcy for the third time. I think one of the most impressive things about The Donald is that he seems to be able to make money himself out of ventures that keep costing his associates a lot of money, all the while avoiding being jailed on some claim of fraud. Final resolution of the 2009 bankruptcy wound up with Trump negotiating a 10% ownership in the new company, half of which was in exchange for use of his name and likeness. Amazing.

In 2008, it had been reported that the Trump Marina would be sold and converted to a Margaritaville casino, but that deal fell through. Instead, in 2011 it was sold to Landry's Restaurants and became the new edition of the Golden Nugget.

The MOGH catalog has an erroneous page that displays not chips but instead just one player's card. That page claims that Trump's Castle became Trump World Fair Casino, which became Golden Nugget. Sorry, but the Trump World Fair Casino was a completely different place, over on the Boardwalk, that also bore the Playboy and Atlantis names. Don't know how MOGH made that kind of mistake. It's not as if the Trump history has any confusion or complexity going on. ;-)

I have never stayed at this hotel under any of its names, but I did play at the Trump Marina, probably just once. I don't have any records other than the souvenir chip, and I don't even remember on which of my Atlantic City visits I got by the place.

The chip shown below is another of those custom white Paulsons that I mentioned yesterday as having similar basic designs, with the name and denomination molded into the chip. This one has four narrow edge inserts, two each in pink and blue, and different center inlays on the two sides. One side has a photo of two dolphins leaping, along with the denomination inside a purple oval and the casino name and city/state around the perimeter. The other side is the same except the dolphins are replaced by a duplication of the casino name and a collection of flags.

It took me a moment (doh!) to figure it out, but those are the nautical alphabet flags that spell T-R-U-M-P. Of course, they each have maritime meanings other than the individual letters, but I am not conspiracy-focused enough to have bothered to try to figure out some even-more-hidden message.

UV light reveals that the pink edge inserts fluoresce, but the blue ones do not. There is also a hidden Paulson logo in the center, and it is one of those strange ones rotated 90° and with a cane that extends both above the top of the hat and below the bottom of it.

I'm a little confused (often am), and maybe someone can help me out.

I was about to ask, "Whatever happened to rdw4potus?" He usually posts an image of his chip each day, and he hasn't posted one since last Friday. I figured he might be busy, traveling, etc., so I looked to see whether he had visited the forum lately. That's when the confusion really set in.

He made this post just this morning at 6:38 A.M. Las Vegas time, but the Forums home page says he has not even visited the forum today! How can he have posted under his user name without having been here and signed in at all?

Here is a copy of the "Members who have visited" block from a few minutes ago.



What's up with that?

Quote: Doc

...What's up with that?

I think there is a user setting to hide your presence on the "visitor log". Perhaps rdw has invoked his option to use his cloaking device.

Quote: Doc

I'm a little confused (often am), and maybe someone can help me out.

I was about to ask, "Whatever happened to rdw4potus?" He usually posts an image of his chip each day, and he hasn't posted one since last Friday. I figured he might be busy, traveling, etc., so I looked to see whether he had visited the forum lately. That's when the confusion really set in.

He made this post just this morning at 6:38 A.M. Las Vegas time, but the Forums home page says he has not even visited the forum today! How can he have posted under his user name without having been here and signed in at all?

Here is a copy of the "Members who have visited" block from a few minutes ago.



What's up with that?

I hid my status a while ago. One user was harassing the crap out of me any time he saw me online. Probably not the most effective way to try to make me agree with his bat-shit crazy political beliefs, but whatever.

On the secondary question of why I'm not posting in this thread - I apparently haven't taken pictures of many of my AC chips, and I'm not home until tomorrow. So I'll have to take the pictures and catch up then. I really don't know why I haven't commented in real time in this thread. That would have made for handy picture insertion later.

I forgot all about the option of hiding one's status. There seems to be a little bit of a missing link on that feature -- the Members-Who-Have-Visited block doesn't indicate you have been here today, but your profile page does, even if you don't post. Guess that's not the same as announcing that you are on the forum right now.

Also, I didn't realize I had hassled you with my crazy political biases.
;-)

Glad to know all is well. Looking forward to seeing your chips when you get the photos made. If you do decide to post placeholders for pics to be added later, please also post to let us know when you have added them.

On a related note, when I get back from my upcoming trip, I expect to post pictures of my newly-acquired chips from Arizona. They really should have gone in following your posts of chips from those same casinos back in January, except I didn't have them. Perhaps you would be kind enough to add notes to the bottom of your January posts to let future readers know where to find my Arizona chip images. I'll likely put them all in one post behind spoiler buttons.

Quote: Doc

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

I had assumed the dolphins in the image would be of the "Atlantic Bottlenose" variety, since the casino is located in Atlantic City. However, the long beaks and triangular dorsal fins indicate they are Spinner Dolphins, a species found mainly in the tropical waters of the Pacific. Tuna fisherman look for Spinner dolphins on the surface to locate schools of fish below. Unfortunately for the Spinner dolphins, many of them get caught in the tuna nets and drown.

Hmm, maybe the image is appropriate for a casino chip after all...