Casino Chip of the Day

those of you that collect, I get that you prefer to go to a casino and get them yourselves. However, I found this on ebay and thought some of you might still be interested:

25 Paulsons Pharoah Casino Cairo

There's about 1 day left to bid.

Quote: beachbumbabs

I found this on ebay and thought some of you might still be interested

I don't think those chips are from a real casino. They look like manufacturer's samples (with the manufacturer's name molded in rather than the casino name). I don't think there really is a Pharaoh Casino in Cairo, Egypt. I played in several casinos there back in the 80's, before I was collecting chips.

deleted

Quote: Doc

I don't think those chips are from a real casino. They look like manufacturer's samples (with the manufacturer's name molded in rather than the casino name). I don't think there really is a Pharaoh Casino in Cairo, Egypt. I played in several casinos there back in the 80's, before I was collecting chips.

Thanks, Doc. I don't know much about chips beyond the Paulson name; glad you chimed in.

Quote: Doc

I don't think those chips are from a real casino. They look like manufacturer's samples (with the manufacturer's name molded in rather than the casino name). I don't think there really is a Pharaoh Casino in Cairo, Egypt. I played in several casinos there back in the 80's, before I was collecting chips.

So the eBay listing is a scam? Should it be reported or is the site full of scams like this?

It appears the seller has many offerings of this nature and the listings are carefully worded.

Quote: beachbumbabs

those of you that collect, I get that you prefer to go to a casino and get them yourselves. However, I found this on ebay and thought some of you might still be interested:

25 Paulsons Pharoah Casino Cairo

There's about 1 day left to bid.

Those are promo chips by Paulson. AHigh has a set of them on his craps table. They are Medium quality. The Casino de Isthmus chips (from the James Bond movie) are some of the highest quality fake chips you can get on EBay (exactly the same as strip casino chips).

Quote: NokTang

So the eBay listing is a scam?

I don't think I would call it a scam. The chips are real, they just aren't from a real casino. A set of them might be an excellent addition to your home poker games.

State: Nevada
City: Las Vegas
Casino: Quad

The Quad is the Caesars Entertainment property formerly known as the Imperial Palace. It is located between the Flamingo and Harrah's, right next to the work-in-progress Linq. I think they are getting close to completing the exterior renovations on the Quad, but I don't know to what extent they are modifying the interior or how far along they are.

The place was still very much a construction zone when I visited in May 2013 as part of WoVCon ]I[ week, and we entered from the Carnival Court area. I don't even know whether there was ever a door into the Imperial Palace at that location – I never looked.

I played $5 craps at the Quad and managed to lose $60 in roughly an hour, according to my calendar. I really don't remember spending that much time in the place. I have to admit that the table games area looked a little nicer than what I remember of the Imperial Palace (which I only went into a couple of times), and my major objection was that it was too noisy, and all artificial noise, not excitement of the crowd.

The old Imperial Palace chip that I posted last year was a real mixed bag of features that I like and that I dislike. That one is gray and has the nice touch of the name of the casino molded into the clay, but the center region has its info in junky, hot-stamped gold print, which I detest.

The Quad $1 chip is a nice blue shade with two triangular edge inserts in pink/peach and white. The name of the place is molded into the perimeter, along with two of the Paulson hat and cane logos – yes, facing in reversed directions. The undersized center inlays are different on the two sides – one is brown, with background swooshes, the casino's Q logo, the name, city, and denomination, while the other is black with the Total Rewards logo and name in addition to the casino name and denomination. The re-opened place was still new enough when I got there that this chip is in pristine condition.



My wife and I are headed up to Harrah's Cherokee for the day with a couple of friends, so I will be off the forum until late tonight or probably tomorrow.

Well, it looks as if nobody else was around this thread during my absence either. I had a miserable session at Cherokee, with my own shooting being the worst -- didn't make a single point the entire day. Incredible.

If rdw4potus doesn't show up soon to say he is around to post a chip for Sunday, I will post a chip this afternoon, turning the thread back to New Jersey for a couple of days.

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

When I posted my chip from the Harrah's Marina Hotel and Casino last February, I told a little more about the convoluted Harrah's/Caesars story and about the history of that particular casino. It opened under ownership by Holiday Inn, with tentative plans to carry the Holiday Inn name. The powers-that-be decided better and used the Harrah's name they had acquired along with the construction-in-progress casino-hotel.

I also admitted then that I had revisited the place – even stayed at the hotel – after the name had changed to Harrah's Atlantic City, but I hadn't noticed the name change or any change in the chips in play. I promised to remedy that on my next visit, which happened just two weeks ago today. With that earlier post, I invited other members to post their Harrah's chips that included the "Marina" designation and wait until later, i.e. now, to post chips with the new name. OK, everyone, let's see your Harrah's Atlantic City chips.

I really don't know why they decided to rename the place. Perhaps someone felt that to be a "marina" hotel-casino, you should be a place where a Mr. Moneybags-Highroller could sail up and park his yacht before playing. Harrah's Atlantic City is indeed located on the water; Google Maps shows it as between Absecon Inlet and Mankiller Bay, so I'm not completely sure what the water is called right at the "marina" district. They do have a seaplane base there known as Harrah's Landing, but I am not aware of any mooring places for yachts or similar craft, such as we have seen and discussed for some of the casino hotels in Biloxi.

My souvenir chip is a white RHC Paulson with four narrow edge inserts, two each in baby-boy blue and baby-girl pink. The center inlay is a little undersized and is purple, with the Harrah's Resort Atlantic City name but with no specific mention of there being a casino on the premises. I suppose that part is supposed to be obvious. UV light reveals a hidden hat and cane logo right behind (or on top of?) the Harrah's name.

I'm trying to catch up on things from my hotel room in Joliet tonight. Tomorrow, I fly "home" to Philly where I stay for 2 days before heading out to Houston (and MS & LA).

I don't actually have pictures of any of the chips in my collection to correspond to the ones that Doc has posted so far. I haven't taken any new pictures since I attended WOVcon]I[. I'll get those taken and posted soonish. Either Tuesday night this week or sometime late next week after I return from Houston.

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

Quote: rdw4potus

... know that there are no chips to collect there.

Thank you very much for that info. I'll drop Oaklawn off my chips-I-might-get list. You just saved me some driving. The MOGH catalog does show chips from Oaklawn Racing and Gaming. They don't show any issue dates, but they show the casino as opening in February 2008. I guess the casino folks decided full-electronic was better than using chips for some reason, but they just lost one potential, short-term, low-roller player.

I still need to get back out to Bossier City again to visit the Margaritaville, and I had considered possibly driving from there to Kansas City some day by way of Hot Springs and the Oaklawn Jockey Club. Now I'll need to re-plan such a venture. Perhaps Bossier City will just be an excursion from my next (unplanned as yet) visit to Tunica. My wife could probably put up with that kind of detour on a trip to Tunica, New Orleans, and Biloxi some day. Missouri will just need to be a separate trip, with no stop in Arkansas.

Quote: Doc

Thank you very much for that info. I'll drop Oaklawn off my chips-I-might-get list. You just saved me some driving. The MOGH catalog does show chips from Oaklawn Racing and Gaming. They don't show any issue dates, but they show the casino as opening in February 2008. I guess the casino folks decided full-electronic was better than using chips for some reason, but they just lost one potential, short-term, low-roller player.

I still need to get back out to Bossier City again to visit the Margaritaville, and I had considered possibly driving from there to Kansas City some day by way of Hot Springs and the Oaklawn Jockey Club. Now I'll need to re-plan such a venture. Perhaps Bossier City will just be an excursion from my next (unplanned as yet) visit to Tunica. My wife could probably put up with that kind of detour on a trip to Tunica, New Orleans, and Biloxi some day. Missouri will just need to be a separate trip, with no stop in Arkansas.

Apparently, Oaklawn realized that it was cheaper to convert to tickets than it was to pay for the people and equipment necessary to track chips. At least, that's what the floorperson told me.

If you do want to drive from Bossier to KC, you could do a loop going up through OK and collecting chips, and going back through Fayetteville and enjoying the arts scene there.

State: New Jersey
City: Atlantic City
Casino: Margaritaville

A few weeks ago, Buzzard started a thread saying that he was headed to Baltimore and planned an excursion up to Atlantic City. I posted a comment that I would miss by a day or so being there at the same time. I said I needed to pick up a couple of souvenir chips from Harrah's and Margaritaville.

A reply from member wudged pointed out that the place is Margaritaville at Resorts and that they just use the Resorts casino chips.

When I got there, I discovered that the "Margaritaville Casino" is a designated area of a few table games and a room of slots, in the general vicinity of a Margaritaville café and a 5 O'clock Somewhere bar, or something like that. I also found (and posted) that they do have a very limited selection of Margaritaville chips, more like a commemorative chip, and I picked one up during my visit.

I can't quite claim that I got my chip directly by playing the games. While I was there, the only table with an inventory of Margaritaville chips was a roulette table, and that game just wasn't worth my time. I purchased the chip there then went over to the craps table for the rest of my buy-in and some gaming. I spent 45 minutes at that $10 table and left while up $40. Not a big deal, but it was a whole lot better experience than the terrible service that we got in one of the restaurants there.

This chip is the first $5 chip in my collection, and I made that adjustment to my collecting strategy strictly because this is the only denomination of Atlantic City chips with the Margaritaville name. In addition to the usual $1 chips I collect, I now have chips that are $1 Canadian, €1,25, €2,5, and €5 denominations. (When I started that sentence, I didn't realize how confusing it would be to use commas both as separators in a list and as the decimal radix! How are you supposed to handle that issue clearly?)

The chip is a red RHC Paulson with three triple edge inserts, or nine edge inserts, depending on your viewpoint. Each triplet has a yellow insert in the center, surrounded by two dark blue inserts. A little less than half of the clay exposed on the perimeter of the center inlays is red.

The center inlays are different on the two sides of the chip, with one side showing the tropical setting with palm trees, setting sun, a blue parrot, and the name "Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville", all on a white background. The other inlay has an overall tan tone, with a beach scene and a thatch-roofed beach bar. It's labeled "It's 5 o'Clock Somewhere." Both sides of the chip show the denomination and the Resorts name, with the Margaritaville side indicating Atlantic City.

Each side of the chip has a hidden Paulson hat and cane logo that is revealed by UV light.

Quote: Doc

State: New Jersey
City: Atlantic City
Casino: Margaritaville

That is a pretty chip! Where were the tables located? Are they in the room with the slots? Molly and I were there in late July, and all I saw were slots. I'm glad they went with tables as well. Now I'll just have to find time to go pick up a chip!

No, that little room is strictly slots. I thought that might explain why there had been the report of no Margaritaville chips. Then I found that some of the eastern-most tables (down a few stairs/ramp from the designated Margaritaville slots) had felts that were marked with the Margaritaville name and logo. I asked a pit supervisor about chips, and he directed me to that one roulette table where they had them.

I don't know whether they had them at all the tables at one time or maybe they move them around between games now. They seem to be treating them more as playable souvenirs than as regular game chips that you might decide to take one home. At least it isn't like some casinos that just have promo chips at the cage or in the gift shop and charge higher than face value for them. It certainly looked as if I could buy a stack of all $5 Margaritaville chips at the roulette table and take them to play at another game, if I had wanted to do that.

I agree that it is a very pretty chip, and with the way they are handling the inventory, it is likely that every collector that goes for one can get a brand new chip.

State: Maryland
City: Perryville
Casino: Hollywood

On our return trip from New Jersey a few week ago, my wife and I made the circuitous route to hit all three of the Maryland casinos in the same day. That's the kind of foolishness that chip collecting can lead you to.

Someone on this forum has reported that the Hollywood in Perryville is so close to I-95 that going there is like stopping at a highway department rest area. It really is about that close and convenient to the highway, and it's just off the shore of the Susquehanna River near where it enters the Chesapeake Bay, 40 miles or so northeast of Baltimore. The next town down the road is Havre de Grace, and I've never been the least bit confident that I would pronounce that properly.

However, I don't think I've ever had a rest area pay me money, and I had that experience at the Hollywood.

Following the pattern established by rdw4potus, I'll report that CasinoCity.com claims that this Hollywood has 34,000 sq. ft. of gaming space, 1,500 machines, and 22 (unspecified) table and poker games. I didn't count them myself, but I was able to locate the craps table that I was looking for. The casino's own web site lists poker, blackjack, craps, roulette, and both 3-card and 4-card poker among the options available.

I played $10 minimum craps for 20 minutes and left the table up $175. Turns out that I needed that start for the day to buffer my experience at the next stop.

The casino opened just last March, and some people seem to think that is the major explanation for why it isn't run down yet. I have detected a presence of some non-fans of Hollywood on this forum. I thought it was a decent enough spot that we went to their little café for lunch before heading down the road.

My souvenir chip is a white RHC Paulson with four edge inserts, two each in olive and peach. The undersized center inlay is one of those that looks like a double inlay, with the back one having a light wood-grain pattern. The inner circle or "front" inlay is darker (chocolate?) and has those radiating lines that I suspect are to represent beams from a cinematic grand opening spotlight shining into the night sky. The labeling is simple enough, with the casino name, city and state, and the denomination. UV light reveals that the peach edge inserts fluoresce and that there is a Paulson hat and cane logo hidden in the center.

The MOGH catalog indicates that (quite expectedly) this chip is part of the original issue of chips from opening day, 3/6/2013.

Quote: Doc

State: Maryland
City: Perryville
Casino: Hollywood

On our return trip from New Jersey a few week ago, my wife and I made the circuitous route to hit all three of the Maryland casinos in the same day. That's the kind of foolishness that chip collecting can lead you to.

Someone on this forum has reported that the Hollywood in Perryville is so close to I-95 that going there is like stopping at a highway department rest area. It really is about that close and convenient to the highway, and it's just off the shore of the Susquehanna River near where it enters the Chesapeake Bay, 40 miles or so northeast of Baltimore. The next town down the road is Havre de Grace, and I've never been the least bit confident that I would pronounce that properly.

However, I don't think I've ever had a rest area pay me money, and I had that experience at the Hollywood.

Following the pattern established by rdw4potus, I'll report that CasinoCity.com claims that this Hollywood has 34,000 sq. ft. of gaming space, 1,500 machines, and 22 (unspecified) table and poker games. I didn't count them myself, but I was able to locate the craps table that I was looking for. The casino's own web site lists poker, blackjack, craps, roulette, and both 3-card and 4-card poker among the options available.

I played $10 minimum craps for 20 minutes and left the table up $175. Turns out that I needed that start for the day to buffer my experience at the next stop.

The casino opened just last March, and some people seem to think that is the major explanation for why it isn't run down yet. I have detected a presence of some non-fans of Hollywood on this forum. I thought it was a decent enough spot that we went to their little café for lunch before heading down the road.

My souvenir chip is a white RHC Paulson with four edge inserts, two each in olive and peach. The undersized center inlay is one of those that looks like a double inlay, with the back one having a light wood-grain pattern. The inner circle or "front" inlay is darker (chocolate?) and has those radiating lines that I suspect are to represent beams from a cinematic grand opening spotlight shining into the night sky. The labeling is simple enough, with the casino name, city and state, and the denomination. UV light reveals that the peach edge inserts fluoresce and that there is a Paulson hat and cane logo hidden in the center.

The MOGH catalog indicates that (quite expectedly) this chip is part of the original issue of chips from opening day, 3/6/2013.

40 miles north of Baltimore is 50 miles south of my house. I suppose I really should visit MD one of these days.

I suppose that I'm one of the Hollywood-bashers on this board. I do think they do some things well. The theme is very consistent, they seem to have new slots, and the food is good. But they also have bad VP, bad BJ rules, and weak-to-average offers. I guess it's kind of like Revel on a national scale - they *should* be SO good, but they just...aren't.

deleted

Quote: rdw4potus

I was at Oaklawn yesterday. Unlike Southland Park, which does currently use chips, Oaklawn has a fully electronic system. Cashout at Oaklawn is done by ticket. So, if anyone is thinking of going to the middle of Arkansas to visit a wonderful and historic track that happens to have a casino, know that there are no chips to collect there.

Sorry for the backtrack, but I'm curious how buy in's are accomplished in this system. Do players feed cash into stations at the "table" games like a slot machine?

Quote: Ayecarumba

Sorry for the backtrack, but I'm curious how buy in's are accomplished in this system. Do players feed cash into stations at the "table" games like a slot machine?

It's really interesting. The players buy in about like normal, but the dealer applies credits to the video monitor which is flush-mounted on the table top in front of the player. So, when I bought in for $100, my monitor was loaded with $100 in credit. Then the dealer either drops the bills like normal or feeds them into the ticket machine which is next to her by the discard tray. That decision seemed to be based on the wrinkliness of the bills, with worse bills being dropped in the bin and better bills being fed in the machine. Then, at cashout, the dealer removes credits from the player's monitor and prints a ticket for that value. One unfortunate side-effect of all this is that it was virtually impossible to tip the dealer. The dealer at my table commented at one point that the system (which must be fairly new) required a lot of explaining and extra work, while it also reduced her pay. I don't think she was tip-hustling so much as she was just unhappy, and with no other casinos for over a hundred miles I think she felt a little trapped as well.

Thanks RDW. I'm surprised there is a "human" element at all. If you wanted to tip, would you cash out two tickets, one for a $1, and the other for the balance?

Quote: Ayecarumba

Thanks RDW. I'm surprised there is a "human" element at all. If you wanted to tip, would you cash out two tickets, one for a $1, and the other for the balance?

They do have some of SHFL's machines for games other than BJ. I really don't know why the BJ is live. They could easily do an all-electronic pit. There was a way to play a bet for the dealer, but changing denominations is tricky and there's very little time to place bets. I tried to bet for her once, and wound up playing $15 for her (same as my table-minimum BJ bet). Sadly, we lost. Many players were having a hard time with basic things on the screens, like the hit/stand buttons or insurance bets. I can't imagine those folks finding a way to make the toke bet.

State: Maryland
City: Hanover
Casino: Maryland Live!

Just over 50 miles down the road -- mostly I-95 -- from the Hollywood in Perryville is the oddly-punctuated "Maryland Live!" casino in Hanover, attached to the Arundel Mills shopping mall. My wife and I didn't go into the mall, but our GPS took us by a route that had us drive the loop around the mall both coming and going. I later learned that there might have been a better route, though probably not better enough for me to worry about it.

The casino opened last April, and it's location between Baltimore and Washington presents a target market that has been keeping the place busy and the table limits high. CasinoCity.com claims that Maryland Live! has 160,000 sq. ft. of gaming space, 4,332 gaming machines, and 174 table and poker games. It's a big place all right, and it certainly presented an upscale appearance, particularly for an establishment that is basically a shopping mall annex.

The poker room opened 8/28/13, the very day we were there. I had no idea that was on the schedule, and (as I mentioned in another thread) I was so surprised by the long line running through the casino that I had to ask someone what was going on.

We were there at mid-afternoon on that Wednesday, and all of the table games were quite crowded. The craps pit offered a couple of $15 tables, a few at $25, and some that were higher, $50 I think. While the higher-limit tables were crowded, the $15 tables were absolutely jam packed, and I'm such a low roller that a $10 table seems pricey to me. I have real difficulty thinking in terms of jostling for space to stand at a $25-or-higher table.

The only way I was able to get onto a $15 table was to wait for a disappointed shooter to leave after the 7-out and then jump for the spot. Eventually, that got me into the slot at stick left 2. I bought in and prayed that my buy-in would last long enough for the dice to make it around the table so that I could shoot at least once. I thought I was going to be wiped out a couple of times without ever touching the bones, but they got to me more than an hour later.

Usually I feel that when the dice take a long time to move, it suggests that the shooter is rolling a lot of numbers and that I should have been able to make some money along the way. That isn't the way it was working out that afternoon, and after an hour and 25 minutes of play, I left down $160 but with my souvenir chip in hand. If you recall from yesterday's post, I had won $175 just up the road, so while my joy of the day was diminished, the experience wasn't really painful.

The whole time I was at the table, I was playing between the same two young black men. Perhaps I should note -- and I hope that no one takes offense that I even bring up the subject -- that I was surprised by what a high percentage of the players in the casino were black. The two young men next to me had playing styles very different from my own, and I interpreted their strategies as different approaches to bankroll preservation.

The young man to my right was playing the doey-don't, sometimes on the pass/don't but mostly on the come/don't. When I made a casual comment about it, he was pleased, and said that no one else around seemed to even know what that play was called. He was letting both bets move, but only rarely taking odds on either of them. His approach looked like an almost guaranteed slow loser, but he said that he had been playing all day and was still up a little. That was much better than my results, so who am I to criticize?

The young man to my left was placing minimum bets across, on everything except the point number. On most rolls, he had all of his bets called off. I suspect that his average bet per roll was something like $5. I don't know whether he was just being that risk averse or whether he really thought he had the "feel" for which roll his money should be in play.

If everyone in the house had been playing those strategies, I think the place could stay jam packed without the house generating much revenue at all.

My souvenir chip is a white RHC Paulson with four, medium-wide edge inserts, two each in maroon and black. The slightly-undersized center inlay has a background purple with a couple of those floating ribbons that I don't really understand. The casino name is presented with the trademarked "Live!" that looks as if it was scrawled with a paint brush. UV light reveals a hidden hat and cane logo in the center and no other fluorescence.

I had reported earlier in this thread that I was having trouble accessing the web site for Chipco International. Guess I'm just slow to get the word, but that company seems to have gone out of business. I haven't (yet) dug into this thoroughly, but the earliest reference I have found about their demise was posted on another forum back on 2/12/13.

The web site I formerly accessed now redirects to a new site of Game On Chip Company. There is a "Chipco" facebook page that includes the new company's logo and the notation:

Quote: facebook

CHIPCO International is closed! With a great deal of effort the employees started a new company named Game On Chip Company. We brought with us the years of experience that every other manufacturer of ceramic gaming chips can only minimally copy. Visit us at http://www.gameoncc.com/

I came across this info while trying to prepare another post that I will make shortly, if I can gather all my info together.

Back in May, forum member JW17 started a thread on the subject "Gambling in Aruba," saying he would be heading there in July and asking for advice. I was one of several members who posted replies.

Well, it seems that JW17 did indeed hit the casinos in Aruba, and he recently sent me a very nice gift from his trip: a chip from the Alhambra casino. When I visited Aruba, the table games were closed at the Alhambra until after my ship sailed, but I obtained an Alhambra metal token at the Seaport Casino there. I posted an image of that token in this thread, but this chip is much nicer.

I told JW17, as I have told others, that I do not consider a chip to be part of MY collection unless I have gathered it at the casino myself -- in the token's case gathering it at a different casino where it was being used in play. Nevertheless, I really appreciate this gift, and I thought it merited inclusion in this thread. Thanks, JW17!

I have added an image of this chip to my post about the Alhambra, along with some comments, and I thought I would repeat myself here.

The Alhambra chip shown below is a ceramic chip from Bourgogne-et-Grasset, the European unit of Gaming Partners International. Note the BG logo in the 9:00 position.

After all of the chips I have posted since starting this thread, it seems this issue would have come up before: The B&G section of the GPI web site indicates that B&G makes plastic injection molded chips. However, this chip certainly looks just like the "ceramic" chips made (until recently?) by Chipco International. It even has the same kind of surface texture. As I look back over the thread, it seems there may have been several B&G chips that look like ceramic chips and several that look like plastic injection molded chips. I don't know how to reconcile that to the B&G web site.

There are no hidden images on this chip, but I really liked the way the chip fluoresced, so I thought I would include the image of the chip under UV light.

State: Maryland
City: Cumberland
Casino: Rocky Gap

The Rocky Gap Casino opened last May at what was previously (and perhaps still is) known as the Rocky Gap Lodge and Golf Resort. It is a beautiful little spot on Lake Habeeb in the 3,400 acre Rocky Gap State Park. Have we covered in this thread any other casinos located within state parks?

The casino/lodge/resort/course/park is in the western part of the state, about two hours out of Washington and just half a mile off I-68. The chip says that it is in Cumberland, MD, while the mailing address lists Flintstone, MD. For the header of this post, I have kept with my usual policy of reporting what it says on the chip. In truth, the place is between the two towns and a little closer to Flintstone.

Now Flintstone is the kind of town that doesn't mind taking advantage and making a little fun of its own name. They have both a Bedrock Rd. and a Dino Dr. They even have a Lois Ln., but I guess that's a nod to DC Comics, not Hanna-Barbera.

It seems that there was some difficulty in getting a casino established at this location, perhaps both because it is a little remote and also because of the original tax structure that Maryland set up for casinos. I haven't searched the details, but here are some comments found at Wikipedia, in their list of Maryland casinos:

Quote: Wiki

First proposal rejected due to failure by the developer to pay licensing fees. The Maryland Lottery subsequently lowered the casino tax rate for this location and allowed a second round of bids for new proposals. However, no developers submitted any bids. During the third round of bids, three developers submitted bids and licensing fees, two of which have been rejected. The license went to the remaining developer and was awarded in late April 2012. Construction began after receiving approval by the Board of Public Works in which the developer bought the entire existing resort in addition to building the casino. The facility opened on May 22, 2013.

My wife and I left my losing session at the Maryland Live! craps table and headed west, just in time to catch an abundance of afternoon traffic leaving Baltimore. We made it to Rocky Gap before sunset and had a chance for a quick view of the lake before heading inside the lodge to the gaming. My wife had already had enough of casinos for the day, so she had a glass of wine in the lobby bar and read her Nook, while I went to the tables for more misconduct.

CasinoCity.com says that the casino's (unreported area) gaming space includes 550 gaming machines and ten (unspecified) table games. It is much smaller than the two places we visited earlier in the day, but once again I didn't count or identify the various tables myself. The casino's web site lists their games as blackjack, roulette, three-card poker, Mississippi stud, and craps. I was only interested in the last of those, and I have learned to just scan the place for a bunch of people standing up.

They offered a $5 game, which was much more to my liking than what I had encountered earlier in the day. I only played for 45 minutes. I would have enjoyed playing longer, but we really needed to get down the road a ways closer to home before searching for a motel. The gaming turned out to be my best session of the trip – I converted a $200 buy-in into $600 and left quite pleased with the whole Rocky Gap experience.

My souvenir chip is a white RHC Paulson with three medium-wide edge inserts in dark brown, purple, and something between sky blue and turquoise. That second one really is much more purple than the maroon that it looks like in the photo. The center inlay is a very pale green, with the casino name in a script font and the denomination in a shadowed white that almost completely disappears. UV light reveals the hidden hat and cane logo in the center.




Well, I have now posted the two chips from NV, two from NJ, and three from MD that I said I could provide during rdw4potus's absence from his lead role in this thread, and I even provided an extra chip image yesterday. Unfortunately, this runs my well dry once again, and I have heard nothing from the other folks who have previously indicated that they have chips that they would like to contribute to this thread. Unless I hear something soon so that I have something to "coordinate", I guess we won't have another new Casino Chip of the Day until rdw is back in a position to resume posting images.

Quote: Doc

State: Maryland
City: Cumberland
Casino: Rocky Gap




Well, I have now posted the two chips from NV, two from NJ, and three from MD that I said I could provide during rdw4potus's absence from his lead role in this thread, and I even provided an extra chip image yesterday. Unfortunately, this runs my well dry once again, and I have heard nothing from the other folks who have previously indicated that they have chips that they would like to contribute to this thread. Unless I hear something soon so that I have something to "coordinate", I guess we won't have another new Casino Chip of the Day until rdw is back in a position to resume posting images.

I REALLY like the script on that chip. It's hard to be both that stylized and that legible, and they've pulled it off well.

I am still traveling, or I guess on the road again (I was home for 36 hours there). I took pictures of my OK and IA chips, then didn't upload them and left my personal laptop - containing the images - at home. I AM visiting a handful of casinos in the next two days, but I think Doc has already been to most (if not all) of them. I guess if nothing else I can take and post images of those $5 chips, since I couldn't do that earlier in the thread.

OK, looking forward to your MS and LA chips. If that plan works out, we get to see some new chips, but I don't have to edit/update the tables of that post #1 index each day.   ;-)

If you do add chips from casinos I have already posted, I'll add links to my earlier posts about those casino so that interested parties can readily locate your current posts.

In January, Doc covered the new L'Auberge property in Baton Rouge. I visited that property on Thursday night (9/12/13). As with the property in Lake Charles, the L'auberge in Baton Rouge is upscale. It's kind of funny going from the other Baton Rouge & New Orleans properties to this one (and to Harrah's in New Orleans). Just when you think the properties are all going to be gritty and run down, this giant pillar of glitz appears out of nowhere.

I collected this chip by playing BJ. I lost $60 pretty quickly and decided that was enough of that. I walked around the property people-watching for a while, then decided to head east to Biloxi for the night. The casino and LSU share an exit on the highway. They also seem to share a clientele - I'd say the age of the median L'auberge customer was 25ish.

My chip from L'auberge is a Paulson RHC. This was the cleanest chip I could find, which is sort of sad since the casino has only been open for a year. These aren't the greatest pics. Lighting in my hotel room isn't ideal, and I have my cellphone but not my camera. My plan is to re-take these pics when i get home. When I do that, I'll add a second set of links to this post.

State: Mississippi
City: Biloxi
Casino: Golden Nugget

Today's chip of the day comes from the Golden Nugget casino in Biloxi, MS. The Golden Nugget opened in June of 2013 (the building was previously the Isle of Capri). According to Casino City, the casino has 42,770 sqft of gaming space with 1132 machines and 38 tables. The casino is about as far east as a person can get in Biloxi, with nothing but the bridge to Ocean Springs to the East. I definitely did a double-take when my GPS told me to turn that way when I was leaving the Grand.

The Golden Nugget has some odd features, and I don't remember the Isle of Capri doing things this way. The main table games area is right inside the front doors. Like, 10 feet inside the doors. That made the casino feel much smaller than it really was. It also created a situation where I was able to just get up and walk directly out after losing my $60 buyin at the BJ table. I can't imagine they want that. Most places create a situation where it's necessary to walk past some slots on the way out, but that's definitely not the case here.

My chip from the Golden Nugget is a house mold that I suspect is Paulson-made. It's in relatively good shape, which is probably not surprising given that the casino just opened 3 months ago.

deleted

Quote: Ibeatyouraces

Makes it easy for someone to try a grab and run. Another reason table games aren't near entrances.

Didn't even think about that. The drop-off/valet loop is right out that door, too. That could really work in this case.

Perhaps the electrical outlets need to be re-configured in order to have slots by the door?

Did the GN have a vending machine that dispensed gold bars and coins?

Nice addition to the thread, rdw.

My last trip to Biloxi was last January. Just before that trip, I posted my chip from the predecessor Isle of Capri. In that post, I noted that the name of the casino and the sign on the building had both been changed to say just "Isle". I said that I was hoping to pick up a chip with the shortened name before they changed to Golden Nugget, but there apparently never were any of those. The Golden Nugget (Biloxi) is still on my list to pick up next time I am there.

When I visited, they had a table games area on the second floor, also. Do you know whether that one is still there?

Edit 7/1/15: I finally made it back to Biloxi and got my chip. I posted the image (with some others) here.

Quote: Doc

When I visited, they had a table games area on the second floor, also. Do you know whether that one is still there?

I didn't go upstairs at all. I think that's one of the bigger drawbacks of having one pit right by the door - I could have walked inside the casino for a total of no more than 30 feet - 15 feet to the BJ table, 15 feet back to the door. I don't remember seeing craps or roulette in the cluster of tables by the door, so I think they must be upstairs since I did circle the first floor.

I could easily be mistaken, but my recollection is that the 2nd floor table games area was quite a bit larger than the one on first floor. Of course, that was when it was an Isle or Isle of Capri. The remodel that I haven't yet seen could have changed things.

State: Illinois
City: Joliet
Casino: Hollywood

Today's chip of the day comes from the Hollywood casino in Joliet, IL. Hollywood replaced the Empress after that property suffered a total loss by fire. The facility opened in December of 2010 and Casino City says it has 1177 slots and 27 tables on its 50,000 sqft gaming floor. I don't think it can have more than 1,200 total seats, but maybe there can be more as long as no more than 1,200 are available at one time. Unlike Harrah's, which is right in downtown Joliet, Hollywood has more of a resort feel and is on a significant amount of property up US 6 from Joliet's city center.

I mentioned in my Empress review that the property was not very impressive. This was my first time visiting this Hollywood, and I was expecting a similarly underwhelming experience. But, Hollywood was a very nice place. Access off the highway was well-marked and easy and parking was also logical and convenient. The inside of the property also surpassed my expectations. It's another well-themed Hollywood property. Unfortunately, it also has the usual Hollywood customer service issues. I collected my chip by playing BJ, and the dealer was terrible. He was inaccurate and openly hostile. He kept saying that he was going to do whatever he needed to do to keep up his speed because he had a standard to meet. He made many many payout, card, and customer service mistakes. He had a very hard time recognizing straights in the 21+3 bonus, and everyone was playing that bet. He also hit his own soft 18 twice and had to burn that card each time. After he let a player bet less than half the table minimum ($5 bet, $15 table) and then increase her bet and double AFTER seeing her 6/5 ($15/$15 after the double) I said "man, you're going to get in MUCH more trouble for that than for dealing a little slower. That'll get you fired..." Then the phone rang. I don't know what happened once he was removed from the table, but I'll bet it wasn't good.

My chip from Hollywood in Joliet is a Gemaco product. Their "GI" trademark is on one side of the chip. The chip is in relatively good shape, but the trademark shows a bit of wear. It feels like it's stamped on that face, rather than being a part of the design itself.



I'm back home now, and with any luck my luggage will join me tomorrow. Once I have that bag, which contains the chips I collected in MS and LA, I'll figure out whether it's better to continue with the chips from these recent trips or whether I should instead move on to IA, OK, and CA. I'm tempted to clean up MS, LA, and MO before moving on to the other states.

Your post gave me the chance to correct an error from last March: when you posted a chip from the Hollywood in Aurora, I just listed it in the index as "Hollywood" and failed to designate the city for clarification. I have them both identified now.

I generally recognize the Gemaco chips by the design of the edge inserts, what I have referred to as looking like the tip of a set of slip-joint pliers. I don't think I have ever seen a Gemaco "GI" mark on a chip.

So what is this knack you have for traveling a different itinerary than your luggage? Please teach me how not to ever do the same.   ;-)

Quote: Doc

Your post gave me the chance to correct an error from last March: when you posted a chip from the Hollywood in Aurora, I just listed it in the index as "Hollywood" and failed to designate the city for clarification. I have them both identified now.

I generally recognize the Gemaco chips by the design of the edge inserts, what I have referred to as looking like the tip of a set of slip-joint pliers. I don't think I have ever seen a Gemaco "GI" mark on a chip.

So what is this knack you have for traveling a different itinerary than your luggage? Please teach me how not to ever do the same.   ;-)

On the luggage issue:

My layover yesterday was at O'hare. Should have been 90 minutes, was 5 hours. That alone wasn't terrible. I have a club membership, the game was on, and domestic beer is free. But it created a situation where there was a late gate and plane change before my flight finally left, and my bag apparently didn't join me. It was hell for the ramp crew at O'hare yesterday. A very active electrical storm caused a ground stop for about 4 hours because they couldn't work outdoors, then they were horribly behind. My plane arrived in Allentown at about 2am, and there was no one at ABE to help with the bag issue last night. I couldn't go up there today to get it, and I'm outside of the area in which they will courier/ship the bag. So tomorrow I go back to Allentown to grab the bag and visit the Sands in Bethlehem (I'm sure *nobody* saw that second part coming...)

State: Oklahoma
City: Miami
Casino: Buffalo Run

Today's chips of the day come from the Buffalo Run casino in Miami, OK. The casino has a 70,000 sqft gaming floor with 800 machines and 17 tables. It's a little east of town, just off the Will Rogers Turnpike. Miami is an interesting place. It's a small town (14,000 people) with 4 full-service casinos in town and several more within a few miles. It's hard to see where the demand comes from for all of that, but all of the casinos were busy when I visited last year.

One thing that (REALLY) bothered me about the OK casinos in general was that my GPS couldn't find them. And there were no useful signs. There are billboards, but they don't say "Buffalo Run is 2 miles up this road" they just say "Buffalo Run is an awesome place. You should go there." To get to Buffalo Run, I had to use the address and the GPS put me into town, up US 69, and across the span of the city on a series of increasingly terrible dirt roads. The alternate method would have been to cross town heading directly toward the turnpike, then turn down the frontage road and go until it ends at the casino.

Buffalo run is a strange place. It looks like a temporary structure, but I think the architecture is just this way. Here's a picture:


Buffalo Run has some great games. $2 UTH and 3CP both with full-pay side bets, $3 BJ. I played UTH to get my chip, but I thought I noted the BJ rules as well. Now I can't find where I recorded that. For the most part, the OK casinos don't charge antes under normal circumstances. That's an old practice that's led to a lingering misconception. They avoid the antes in different ways - some just don't charge it, some waive it for using a players card, some waive it for betting over $x/hand. My notes show that Buffalo Run's method is to waive the ante for bets at or over $5.

My chips from Buffalo Run are very similar to each other. One shows the Buffalo Run name, while the other features the Outback Joe's name. Outback Joe's is a bar and semi-autonomous area within the casino. There are no tables there, but the Joe's chips are mixed into the pit at Buffalo Run. I couldn't decide if that particular situation deserved a collection or not, and I decided that there IS a Joe's casino that I DID play at so grabbing a chip was warranted. I don't know who made these chips. They look kind of like some of the Gemaco P series chips, and kind of like some of the chips on the Matsui website. The MOGH lists them as Mold: RTP, but I don't know what that means. It appears that other chips that they've listed that way were Gemaco's, but those chips also exactly match the Gemaco catalog and these chips do not.




Now that I've started OK, I'll run through my OK chips. I didn't really want to do things this way, but the pics were already taken and I didn't have a chance to leave the office early enough to take new pictures today. Hopefully I can get some good mid-day light tomorrow or Sunday to take pics of my remaining chips, so that everything will be set to go once OK is exhausted.

Quote: rdw4potus

After he let a player bet less than half the table minimum ($5 bet, $15 table) and then increase her bet and double AFTER seeing her 6/5 ($15/$15 after the double) I said "man, you're going to get in MUCH more trouble for that than for dealing a little slower. That'll get you fired..." Then the phone rang. I don't know what happened once he was removed from the table, but I'll bet it wasn't good.

Yikes!

And thanks for sharing guys!

Quote: rdw4potus

The MOGH lists them as Mold: RTP, but I don't know what that means. It appears that other chips that they've listed that way were Gemaco's, but those chips also exactly match the Gemaco catalog and these chips do not.

"RTP" refers to R.T. Plastics, a Las Vegas firm that formerly had the web site rtplastics.com. That site is no longer functioning (I think I have noted that in the past), and I don't know the story.

I did a Google search and found a Canadian company of the same name with the site rtplastics.ca, but they seem to be in a different line of business.

I was first pointed to RT Plastics (of Las Vegas) as the chip manufacturer by Ayecarumba, so maybe he knows a little of what happened.

And I no longer trust the MOGH catalog listing as to the manufacturer of the chips. Great resource but not always accurate.

State: Oklahoma
City: Marlow
Casino: Chickasaw Chisholm Trail

Today's chip of the day comes from the Chickasaw Chisholm Trail casino in Marlow, OK. A couple notes about the name and location: Almost all sources list the casino as Chisholm Trail, and the address is in Duncan, OK. However, the chip lists only the Chickasaw name and a location of Marlow, OK. I am going to refer to this casino as Chisholm Trail to avoid confusion when also discussing the other Chickasaw casinos. Marlow and Duncan are only a few miles apart with Marlow a little farther north on US81. The casino has 569 machines and 4 tables on a 22,000 sqft gaming floor. It's quite small, but it doesn't feel too terribly cramped.

The casino has a GREAT old-west theme. Here's a picture of the outside of the building:



Despite having only a few tables, Chisholm Trail has 3 different games: BJ, 3CP, and UTH. I collected my chip playing UTH. There was an ante, but the Trips paytable was also full-pay. The Chickasaw casinos were some of the only places that I encountered in OK where there was an unavoidable ante. I don't remember which one it was, but at one of them they mentioned that this might be changing. The other area casinos do not have antes, and I think the Chickasaws are/were feeling pressure there. It's been about a year since I made this trip, so the change may well already be made. If so, then these would easily be some of the best casinos in the country. The Chickasaw casinos feature great rules, low limits, talented and friendly staff, and very well done theming.

My chip from Chisholm Trail is a chipco product that features a picture of a bison on a prairie on each side. For whatever reason, the sides have worn somewhat differently - the first picture shows uniform wear across the entire face, while the second face shows more pronounced edge wear and less wear on the rest of the face.



I'm a little worried about my Photobucket situation. My account is 61% full without any of the new pics from CA or NV loaded. Not all of my photos are casino chips, but CA and NV combined are well over 50% of my collection. Once all of the new pics are taken and uploaded, the account will be very very close to full. I may need to cut corners to make it under their limit. For example, I'll probably replace rather than add to the images that I posted for L'auberge, Golden Nugget, and Hollywood last week.

State: Oklahoma
City: Durant
Casino: Choctaw

Today's chip of the day comes from the Choctaw casino in Durant, OK. The casino has 3,700 slots and 80 tables on its 120,000 sqft gaming floor. Choctaw Durant is one of the closest casinos in OK to the Dallas metro area, and the casino gets a very significant amount of traffic from the DFW area.

I visited Choctaw Durant while I was visiting my company's Dallas office. I flew in on Sunday morning and drove around in Southern OK for a day before working on Monday and Tuesday. Because it is so close to Dallas, Choctaw Durant has rules that are slightly sub-optimal - 8/6/5 UTH trips paytables, 5/4 3CP pair plus, etc. I've lost the flier, but I think this was also the casino in OK where I picked up a notice slip regarding the tribe's legal status. Basically, they partially waive their sovereignty for the purpose of gaining access to the State court system for adjudication of claims by and against the casino.

I collected my chip by playing UTH. Limits on UTH were $5, while other games were at $10 or $15. I suppose UTH was lower because betting much more than the ante in total is a common practice. At any rate, the $5 min made my game selection decision much easier. The dealer got quads while I was playing, right after the guy at 3rd base decided to sit out. Poor guy was hitting the bonus hard, too. I played a total of about 15 hands, and left up $5. I'd been up about $50, but lost a 4x hand right before I left.

The casino has a very beautiful and memorable sculpture/fountain out in front by the valet area. Here's a picture of the property at night:



My chip from Choctaw Durant is Chipco product. It has a satin finish and a small amount of edge wear. The chip face itself is actually in pretty good shape.

Was that fountain design perhaps derived from...




Anyway, I'm headed out to Reno/Tahoe/San Diego for a week, so I'm not sure how often I will be able to drop by the forum. See ya later.

State: Oklahoma
City: Grant
Casino: Choctaw

Today's chip of the day comes from the Choctaw casino in Grant, OK. Like Durant, Grant is just north of the Red River, just north of the DFW metro area. Grant is a bit farther East, a bit farther from the metro, and on a more minor road. As a result, it's a bit smaller and less fancy than it's sister property in Durant. The facility in Grant has 68,000 sqft of gaming space with 1,200 machines and 10 tables. The "town" of Grant isn't much of a locality at all, just an Indian controlled piece of land near the intersection of US 70 and US 271. I guess that makes this a decent site for a casino, at least by OK standards.

Here's a picture of the Choctaw Casino in Grant:



I didn't stay at the facility in Grant for very long at all. When I arrived, only 3 of the 10 tables were open, and only 2 of them had players. So I went to the 3rd table and played 1 shoe. The casino is about what I'd expected the southern OK casinos to be like - approximately the same level of quality as a second-tier Vegas "locals" casino like Arizona Charlie's East. That's a full level below the Durant Property, which reminded me a lot of one of the fancier Stations properties (edit: not GVR or RR, more like Santa Fe or Sunset). FWIW, the facility in Idabel, which no longer has tables, is another 50 miles east and another step down in quality and size.

My chip from Choctaw Grant is a Chipco product. There's a good deal of edge wear, but the main surfaces are mostly legible. Especially in the second image, there are some stains that I couldn't clean off. I can't imagine what could mar a plastic chip like this, but whatever that dark mark at the 8:45 position, it isn't going anywhere.



Yesterday, I uploaded my chips from CA. Definitely some pretty chips there. Fun casino names, too. I still don't know when/if I'll get back there to grab the rest of the chips, but at this point I'll almost certainly post these before I'm able to return to CA.

State: Oklahoma
City: Lawton
Casino: Comanche

Today's chip of the day comes from the Comanche casino in Lawton, OK. The Comanche casino has 36,000 sqft of gaming space, which has 700 machines and 12 tables. Lawton is a relatively large (pop: 98,000) town in Southwestern OK. It is very near Fort Sill, which has been an operating Army installation for the past 144 years. Between the city's civilian population, students, and the military folks, this casino (and the other Lawton-area casinos) have quite a strong and stable customer base.

All of the pics that I could find of the casino were pretty poor. But this promotional print is a relatively good representation of the front of the casino. It's more vivid than real life, but I suppose that's the point.



I played BJ at Comanche. They would have waived their ante if I got a players card, but I decided not to play long enough to justify waiting for the sign-up process to complete. Of course then I walked around the property for a few minutes and could easily have waited for the card to be made. Maybe I just wanted to donate that $10 to the tribe. The property is nice. It looked and felt new, and it had an energetic ambiance. It'd be the perfect place for a craps table or two, but this is Oklahoma.

My chip from the Comanche casino is an RT Plastics product. I'm not exactly sure what the image on the chip is supposed to be. There's a guy on a horse, and a wavy sideways sombrero looking thing. That symbol, whatever it is, is repeated in the casino's motif.

I'm having mixed feelings about the new keyboard and mouse I recently bought for my Nexus 7 tablet. Everything worked fine at home, but now that I'm on the road (Harveys Tahoe), the setup is giving me fits. I can read the forum just fine, and it seems I can create a new post, like this one. But if I try to edit an old post (like the index for this thread), then the whole dang browser crashes. It happens with both of the browsers I have installed on the device.

I know that I edited posts before I left home, so something must have changed with some settings though I can't figure out what.

Anyway, I've added six new chips to my collection so far. I was even ahead at the gaming tables until a bad craps session this evening left me down $55 overall. The good news is that while I was losing $200 with the dice, my wife was winning $300 at the penny slots. Guess I'm just a kept man.



Edit: Hmmm.... Well, it seems that I can indeed edit a post with my tablet setup, because I'm doing that right now! However, I tried again to edit post #1 of this thread, and again the browser (Chrome) crashed. Anyone got ideas/suggestions as to what is going on?

I would move the geek discussion to another thread, but this is where I'm encountering the problem.

Well, rdw, you definitely need to schedule another tour of NW Nevada. Right now, I am at Casino West in Yerington. The tables are closed, but I bought a $1 token from the cashier and played $1 through a nickel VP machine; i.e., the current I-really-played-there technique.

The news that justifies your tour and return here is that Casino West has been bought out by Pioneer Crossing, opening under that name as of Oct. 1. All old chips are to be redeemed by Sep. 30. The cashier thinks that Pioneer Crossing will be operating the BJ and poker tables with their own new chips. Afraid I won't be back this way any time soon, but here's another opportunity for you!