Casino Chip of the Day

Quote: Doc

Your $5 chip and my $1 chip are definitely of quite different designs. Do you (or anyone here) know the manufacturer of your $5 chip? I can't even think of the name of that repeating pattern around the perimeter, and I don't think I have seen it on any of the manufacturers' web sites I have looked at.

My post from this morning was asking rdw4potus about his $5 Carson Nugget chip. I have just found a reference that gives the manufacturer as B. C. Wills & Co. of Detroit MI and Reno NV. I haven't looked into more info about that company, but I suspect that the Reno location is relevant for this Carson City chip.

That same reference just calls the pattern I could not name a "Greek Key". I thought there was more to the name than that.

Quote: rdw4potus

Yes, I went to Yerington...

Many years ago I tried to find all the casinos in Northern Nevada so did go to Yerrington. Starting at Reno, along I80, Jackpot to Ely, then I travelled along Rte 50 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_50_in_Nevada#Loneliest_Road_in_America), Fallon, south, Carson city etc. Sadly I missed one of the up roads from I80, so had got to Jackpot but not the town to its West. A fun but very hectic week!

Quote: charliepatrick

Many years ago I tried to find all the casinos in Northern Nevada so did go to Yerrington. Starting at Reno, along I80, Jackpot to Ely, then I travelled along Rte 50 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_50_in_Nevada#Loneliest_Road_in_America), Fallon, south, Carson city etc. Sadly I missed one of the up roads from I80, so had got to Jackpot but not the town to its West. A fun but very hectic week!

I made that same loop last September! Reno across on I80, up to Jackpot, over to Wendover, and then back to Carson City via US 50 through Ely and Fallon.

I think that if I get to the point of making casino-chip-chasing trips to the same extent as charliepatrick and rdw4potus, my wife will just shoot me. I'm probably already treading on thin ice.

Quote: Doc

I think that if I get to the point of making casino-chip-chasing trips to the same extent as charliepatrick and rdw4potus, my wife will just shoot me. I'm probably already treading on thin ice.

LOL! I guess it depends on if you like the places you're going to. It helps (a lot) that I like the rugged southwest landscape, so I'd think about making those drives anyway.

It's going back to otherwise boring places that I'm not sold on. I might never go back to Baton Rouge if L'Auberge wasn't opening later this year. And were it not for Horseshoe, I'd require payment before I returned to Cleveland...

Quote: rdw4potus

I might never go back to Baton Rouge if L'Auberge wasn't opening later this year.

Wait a sec... L'auberge is opening later this year in Baton Rouge? I just drug my wife on a trip through Louisiana in February and went to L'auberge du Lac in Lake Charles, but there's going to be another one? And someone else said that next year Margaritaville will be opening in Bossier City? Yep, she's going to shoot me.

So, rdw, how does your fiancee feel about supporting this hobby?

Quote: Doc

Wait a sec... L'auberge is opening later this year in Baton Rouge? I just drug my wife on a trip through Louisiana in February and went to L'auberge du Lac in Lake Charles, but there's going to be another one? And someone else said that next year Margaritaville will be opening in Bossier City? Yep, she's going to shoot me.

So, rdw, how does your fiancee feel about supporting this hobby?

Yes, L'Auberge opens in Baton Rouge this summer. It sounds like the Bossier Margaritaville will open in summer of 2013 - I'm not sure about the Biloxi version...is that open now?

The fiancee would prefer that I travel less in general, but she's OK with the chip collecting. It helps that I don't spend (much) money drinking or smoking or skiing or golfing. Except for a handful of cigars, pints, and rounds of golf each year, this is my only vice.

Quote: rdw4potus

I'm not sure about the Biloxi version...is that open now?

My understanding is that it will open 5/20/12. I get to Mississippi a couple of times most years, so I don't anticipate any difficulty getting that chip fairly soon.

A few days late but here it is anyway:

On the Caesers token on right side it reads around the edge: "ONE DOLLAR GAMING TOKEN - FOR USE BY PLAYER ONLY - ONE DOLLAR GAMING TOKEN"
There is a date at the bottom which says 1979


The reverse sides are shown next. The one on the right reads: "ONE DOLLAR GAMING TOKEN - ACCEPTABLE ONLY AT CAESARS PALACE, LAS VEGAS".
There appears to be words engraved in the middle "plaque" on the columns, but it is too worn out to read.

I may try to take different pics with some better light...

Thanks for the images of the tokens, Lucyjr. I had never seen a Bellagio coin, and my Caesars Palace token does not have a date on it. I think it may be a little newer than yours, based on when I got it in the middle of this past decade.

State: Nevada
City: Minden
Casino: Carson Valley Inn

Quote: TIMSPEED

Ha! I just remembered what casino it is....

So, is this the chip/casino you were thinking of yesterday?

At least once and probably twice in this forum, I have told the tale of how I wound up at the casino at Carson Valley Inn. I'll repeat myself anyway. For my trip last fall (first time ever) to the Reno/Sparks/Carson City/Lake Tahoe area, I had pre-planned the list of casinos that I wanted to visit. I thought I was covering most of the places that have table games, but it seems I missed a few in Sparks and outlying areas of Reno.

I probably stopped pre-searching for more casinos for that trip when I realized that the number I had selected was high enough to annoy my wife, who would be tagging along with me, and was also a number that would bring my total collection to a number that would form a nice, uniform array for display under the glass on my desktop. (Finding a good geometric display array is a side problem to collecting the chips.)

As Bobby Burns said, "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft agley." When I got to the Carson Station casino in Carson City, I found that they were under new management and had closed their table games, probably due to a business downturn in the poor economy. That left me one chip short of my planned quantity of souvenir booty.

The following day, our last full day in the area, my wife I drove down to the town of Minden, down US395 south a few miles farther than we had previously traveled. We visited the Carson Valley Inn, the only establishment in town with a casino. I found it a pleasant little spot, even though I lost $60 playing craps.

The town itself, like many of the non-mining towns in Nevada I suppose, was created in response to the development of railroads through the state. According to the town's web site:

Quote:

Minden is a unique town among the towns in Nevada, and probably even among towns in the United States, for it was mapped and defined on the ground before a building was erected. As a result, it's neatly laid out streets served as the guide for growth during the first fifty or so years.

The town was named after Minden, Germany, near the birthplace of H.F. Dangberg. There is no question that the Dangbergs made the town. The Dangberg Company presented a plan of the town of Minden to the Douglas County Commissioners in July of 1906.

That explains the naming of the city, while the inn/casino got its name from the town being located in "the heart of Carson Valley."

Today's Casino Chip of the Day has substantial similarity to yesterday's. It is single color (no edge spots), top hat and cane, with a gold-color hot-stamped denomination and name. Repeating my comments from yesterday, of all the chips that come from Paulson/Gaming Partners International, this is essentially a bottom-of-the-barrel example.

Other than the casino that issued the chip and the blue rather than orange base color, the main difference between today's chip and yesterday's is that they include two different top hat and cane designs that we have discussed before. Thanks to Ayecarumba's recent input, we now can recognize that the Carson Nugget chip yesterday had the Reversed Hat and Cane design while today's Carson Valley Inn chip has the Short Cane Version.

I suppose that this point in the thread would be a suitable place for others to post images of chips from the Carson Station Casino, since I mentioned it in this post and specifically said I do not have one in my collection. Did any of you play there and keep a chip before they shut down their table games? This is the casino that rdw4potus was indicating yesterday as one he needs to complete his Nevada collection, whenever they re-open their pit.

Has anyone else ever played at the Carson Valley Inn, and do you perhaps have a nicer chip from there than the one I am showing? I know that rdw4potus found his yesterday, so I'm hoping he will post it very soon.

As you all know, I was in Revel on opening day. Here's some chips.

Admin note: removed image www.djteddybear.com/images/revel_chips_small.jpg
Admin note: removed image www.djteddybear.com/images/revel_chips.jpg

Yep, top had and cane chips. After all the hype, you'd think they'd have their name imressed in the edge as so many other high-end casinos do.

Funny thing is, the canes are so thin, they are hard to see. And this is on brand new chips! Imagine after there's a little wear! They are gonna be "Top hat" chips....


I present them here to use them as an example as I ask our resident chip expert a couple questions. And I regret not taking a better close up of the $25 and $100 before cashing them in. (I do have souvenir $1 and $5, but they are burried in the luggage...)


You'll note that there is a white spot on the $25 and $100, as well as a triangle on the $25, and other mark on the $100. In truth, there is something within the white spots. And significance to these marks?

Also, is there any significance to the size or shape of the edge markings? You'll note that the marks on the $100 are larger than the $25, which are larger than the $5. In fact, the white marks are larger than the blue marks on the $5. And the marks are triangles on the $1. It's all so mysterious and interesting.

Last, I also have a $1 chip that has only one of the marks. Obviously a production error. Any value in such a thing?

---

You'll note that I took these photos on an unoccupied poker table. I had to shoot at an angle to avoid glare. While arranging the shot, a floor person came over and asked what I was doing. The tone of his voice made it clear that he knew it's illegal, that I should also know it, and that he wasn't going to object. I said, "Taking photos while inside a casino. No good?" We both laughed. Then I told him that I was doing it for this thread, and he said OK.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

I present them here to use them as an example as I ask our resident chip expert a couple questions.

Let me know when you locate him; I have a bunch of questions myself.

I took a look at images of the new Revel chips on another web site. There are two small icons on the $25, $100, and $500 chips. All three of those denominations have toward the left what looks a bit like an eyeball, really the kind of eyeball on a cheap doll where you can shake a bead around inside a transparent shell. I don't know what that is supposed to be. The $25 chip has an isosceles trangle; the $100 chip has something that looks like an atom from a nuclear energy emblem (mostly electron orbits), and the $500 chip has a star. All denominations ($1 thru $500) have three dots centered below the value and (for the $25 thru $500) centered between the small icons.

As for the edge inserts, I have only seen rough descriptions of the (proprietary?) processes for adding those. Apparently a cylindrical block of the "clay" has grooves cut down the side with colored filler added before the block is sliced into chip thicknesses and pressed in the mold. The shape of those grooves affects the appearance of the chips from both the faces and the edges when they are in a stack, so they help in revealing a bogus chip or a mixed stack ("dirty" chips). I don't know any details.

We'll surely talk more about the Revel chips when this thread gets to the New Jersey section.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Last, I also have a $1 chip that has only one of the marks. Obviously a production error. Any value in such a thing?

I have seen one site with a photo of a chip missing one of the edge inserts, with the comment "Error Chip". While regular stamps and coins that have printing/minting errors sometimes have additional value, I have no idea about casino chips with errors. I have never sold a chip or bought one anywhere except in a casino, so I don't really know the market factors.

Yep, so I too have been to the Carson Valley Inn. It left such a lasting memory that I forgot about it. My chip is a collector's edition, which I usually try to avoid. I'd placed the chip in a pile of similar chips that I was hoping to replace, and I just re-found it last night while we were discussing what the next casino might be.

I was also shut out at the Carson Station. Their pit was "permanently" before I got there late last summer. I question that permanency, since the tables were still in place.

Quote: Doc

State: Nevada
City: Minden
Casino: Carson Valley Inn
So, is this the chip/casino you were thinking of yesterday?

YEP! I said "Changed decor" because before the new owners took it over, it was VERY rustic feeling...
and I think I actually DO have a chip from Carson Station (I remember playing Let-It-Ride there, as no one else in town had the game!) I'll have to dig through my drawers of junk to see if I still have it.
Aside, have you drove FARTHER out Doc, to Topaz Lodge? (They have a pit)

Like rdw4potus, I too have been to Carson Valley Inn and forgot about it completely. (I thought CasaBlanca would be the next one to come up). I played blackjack and video poker there and lost badly, I remember. The casino is nice, with a nice hotel and if I recall there were a lot of well-to-do golf types there. The town/area seemed very prosperous.

Quote: TIMSPEED

Aside, have you drove FARTHER out Doc, to Topaz Lodge? (They have a pit)

From my perspective at the time, driving the extra 22 miles to Gardnerville for one more chip would have been like driving the 300+ miles down to the Stagecoach Hotel and Casino in Beatty. (I didn't do that either.)

Please do find and post a photo of your Carson Station chip. You may be the only one here that has one.

deleted

Quote: Doc

From my perspective at the time, driving the extra 22 miles to Gardnerville for one more chip would have been like driving the 300+ miles down to the Stagecoach Hotel and Casino in Beatty. (I didn't do that either.)

Please do find and post a photo of your Carson Station chip. You may be the only one here that has one.

Beatty tip: take several days and drive a huge loop: Vegas to Bishop, CA (or Mammoth Lakes) to Vegas again. You'll drive up US 395, between King's Canyon (and Yosemite if you go to Mammoth Lakes) and Death Valley national parks, then (likely, there are options) through Death Valley past the Methuselah tree on CA168, then down US 95 through Beatty back to Vegas.

I'll try to keep that Bishop/Beatty loop in mind for the day I get up the motivation for it. Perhaps you can give some advice, since you seem to have driven such routes. I have never been to Yosemite, and I have considered that as one of my excursions from Las Vegas. Is there a reasonable season in which it is cool enough to drive across Death Valley yet warm enough that CA 120 (Tioga Pass Rd.) is open?

I was thinking of a route from Beatty, across Death Valley to Lone Pine, then up to Bishop and Mammoth Lakes, then across Yosemite, and maybe down to the Sequoia National Park before heading back to Las Vegas. I haven't looked into the details, so I don't know whether that is a reasonable loop or how long it would take to drive and see the stuff.

That would be a sightseeing trip, not a chip-chasing trip.

Quote: Doc

I was thinking of a route from Beatty, across Death Valley to Lone Pine, then up to Bishop and Mammoth Lakes, then across Yosemite, and maybe down to the Sequoia National Park before heading back to Las Vegas. I haven't looked into the details, so I don't know whether that is a reasonable loop or how long it would take to drive and see the stuff.

That would be a sightseeing trip, not a chip-chasing trip.

I think what you'd want to do would be leave early in the morning for the drive across Death Valley's low-altitude portion, then kill about 24 hours along US 395, then drive Tioga the following afternoon. For the US 395 part, Bishop is a cute town, Mammoth Lakes is also very cute (I hear...), the Methuselah tree is in Death Valley National Park - or at least the Anyo National Forest, not sure of the border there... - but at about 9,000 feet elevation. And there's always Paiute Palace Casino...

I won't tell you to chase chips, but I will suggest that you might enjoy the smaller more folksy card clubs in CA along the CA99 corridor if you happen to wind up on the west side of Sequoia or King's Canyon National Park during the trek. I was overwhelmed by the large clubs in Los Angeles County (Commerce, Bicycle, Gardens), but found the east-central CA clubs to be smaller and more friendly (and mostly ante-free).

Edit: This is a summer trip, the early-morning Death Valley drive mitigates the heat. I think Tioga usually opens for the season in May/June.

Quote: rdw4potus

I think what you'd want to do would be leave early in the morning for the drive across Death Valley's low-altitude portion, then kill about 24 hours along US 395, then drive Tioga the following afternoon. For the US 395 part, Bishop is a cute town, Mammoth Lakes is also very cute (I hear...), the Methuselah tree is in Death Valley National Park - or at least the Anyo National Forest, not sure of the border there... - but at about 9,000 feet elevation. And there's always Paiute Palace Casino...

I won't tell you to chase chips, but I will suggest that you might enjoy the smaller more folksy card clubs in CA along the CA99 corridor if you happen to wind up on the west side of Sequoia or King's Canyon National Park during the trek. I was overwhelmed by the large clubs in Los Angeles County (Commerce, Bicycle, Gardens), but found the east-central CA clubs to be smaller and more friendly (and mostly ante-free).

Edit: This is a summer trip, the early-morning Death Valley drive mitigates the heat. I think Tioga usually opens for the season in May/June.

Since I live 100 miles from Yosemite, I think I can comment here...a better drive would be up 395 to Mono Lake, then over 120 into Yosemite..I plan on doing the reverse of your trip someday (going from Mono Lake down to Las Vegas on 395)

Quote: TIMSPEED

Since I live 100 miles from Yosemite, I think I can comment here...a better drive would be up 395 to Mono Lake, then over 120 into Yosemite..I plan on doing the reverse of your trip someday (going from Mono Lake down to Las Vegas on 395)

Isn't CA120 Tioga Rd? I think we're only really differing on the stopping point between the drive through Death Valley and the drive through Yosemite.

I had friends who lived in Gardnerville and stayed with them a couple nights about 20 years ago when bowling in a tournament in Reno. We hit the Carson Valley Inn (or the CVI as they called it) at least twice and enjoyed it but, I didn't snag a chip from there and only recall that I lost there but the food in the cafe was tasty.

On Monday morning, I made a comment about how little interest this thread had drawn on Sunday. Today, I thought I would post a thought in the opposite direction.

It seems that while we were discussing just the 21st chip/casino, this thread has eased its way into the #10 spot on the top threads list, passing a thread started by Jerry Logan. If interest and participation remain at this level through Christmas, the thread should have reached a pretty high spot on the list. I think there is no way it will ever reach the #1 spot -- there are just too many Spanish words that could be discussed compared to the number of chips we are likely to be able to post and discuss. At least there appears to be potential for getting another casino-related thread high on the list. Of course, you might consider a wager about weight loss and a law suit about cheating to be right on topic for the site, so maybe what this thread offers is the opportunity for a discussion free of petty bickering to reach #2 on the list. I hope we keep this one that way.

Is The Casuarina next?

Castaways would be before that.

Quote: s2dbaker

Is The Casuarina next?

Quote: zippyboy

Castaways would be before that.

Ah, two more wrong guesses. I didn't think it would be that difficult. In fact, it should be extremely easy for a member of this forum go figure out the next (alphabetically within category) chip in my collection almost every day. I could give that secret away, but I think I'll just leave that for you to ponder.

Caesar's Tahoe?

Quote: s2dbaker

Caesar's Tahoe?

No, I don't have one of those. The place had become MontBleu by the time I was there. A Caesars (note: no apostrophe) Tahoe chip image was posted by zippyboy back when I posted mine from Caesars Palace.

The correct answer has been included in comments in the past couple of days, and I will make today's post in just a couple of minutes.

State: Nevada
City: Mesquite
Casino: CasaBlanca

So, to everyone who enjoys the guessing game and hasn't yet figured out the trick of getting the right answer (almost) every day, here is today's Casino Chip of the Day!

The day before I met the Wizard in person for the first time, my wife and I took a little excursion from Las Vegas up to Mesquite. We visited three casinos there for me to collect souvenir chips, and I managed to lose money at craps in all three of them. That was pretty much the way my gambling results went for that entire trip. Overall, I lost money in seven out of ten sessions. But, I did add to my collection.

I was particularly impressed with the grounds around the CasaBlanca casino. They have a nice lake out front that they call their lagoon, with fountains, ducks, and geese that I think make the appearance of the place rank right up there with some of the Las Vegas Strip properties. But Mesquite is just not quite so convenient to drop by if you are staying on Fremont Street.

We had planned to make our return from Mesquite to Las Vegas by way of the loop through Moapa Valley and the Valley of Fire. Unfortunately, we were there in a high-wind period with lots of thick dust/sand in the air. We decided that the hikes/walks we had in mind would not turn out to be any fun after all. Revised plan: Back onto I-15 for the return trip.

The CasaBlanca chip is a plain white base with four edge inserts plus a center insert with the casino's name in white on Red and a beige desert scene and palm trees.

When I posted the Boulder Station chip back on 3/29, I made a couple of comments about upcoming chips, including, "I will be able to point out two other manufacturer's logos within the next week, followed by one I would like some help identifying." Well, this CasaBlanca chip is the one I thought I wanted help on. I was going to describe the logo molded into eight spots on the perimeter as the opening for a Torx screwdriver, except each of them has eight points instead of the Torx's six.

Fortunately, though, Ayecarumba recently made a post in this thread that provided me a link to a new resource on casino chips. That led me to other resources, and I now can identify the manufacturer of this chip. I learned this logo is referred to as a Sun mold and that it is a mark of the Blue Chip company of North Las Vegas. The same source provided the following info of how Blue Chip is related to other companies that I have mentioned before:

Quote: antiquegamblingchips.com

The company was organized by some members of the Endy family after they sold Paul-son Co. to the huge French-owned Bourgogne et Grasset Co. (now called Gaming Partners International Corporation, abbreviated GPI Corp.).

That's somewhat similar, though not identical, to the info I provided before. Hopefully, after this thread progresses through a few hundred chips we might all learn a little more about casinos, their chips, and the chip manufacturers. I'm always open to new information the rest of you can provide on these topics.



Edit 5/27/12: Check this post later in this thread about UV images visible on this and other chips.

I think that perhaps Mesquite and Laughlin are the Predictors for Las Vegas.

Laughlin was the ultra low roller haven of pickup trucks, jeans, cowboy hats, RVs, two-dollar movies and cheap Geritol.
Mesquite was in the other direction, had plenty of water, large landholdings in the area, a relaxed pace and a wee bit more of an upscale patina to it. Mesquite casinos were conservatively managed but not necessarily well managed. It was more the over all economy rather than their own debt service obligations that got Mesquite casinos in trouble. In good times, the casinos never really had any outreach programs and never had any ties-ins with all the sporting events motorists speeding by were bound for. Mesquite was confident that Mesquite would be a sufficient "draw" or "attraction" for the upscale gambler.

Laughlin was the beginning of what happened in Vegas when everyone in Vegas started going after the low rollers, the families, the slot machine-fixated "gamblers". Laughlin never sought out the knowledgable or sophisticated gambler, just gamblers who knew "Laughlin is cheap". So suddenly all of Vegas starting going after the unsophisticated, slot-playing ignorant types who wanted cheap entertainment.

Laughlin chips will probably remain in a moribund market as Laughlin remains a place for the elderly, but Mesquite chips might increase in value as the Mesquite area may just start attracting its target audience of upscale golfers and other outdoorsmen.

I'm surprised by how similar the $1 and $5 chips are here. I also enjoyed Casa Blanca's grounds, and found the casino itself to be quite nice for being in the middle of nowhere. Mesquite in general was pleasantly surprising. I was expecting Pahrump II, but the quality was more in line with (slightly below) the Coachella Valley casinos in CA.

One odd difference: My chip is a Paulson, but the inlay is identical to Doc's chip.

Quote: rdw4potus

One odd difference: My chip is a Paulson, but the inlay is identical to Doc's chip.

My guess, with not much backup, is that your chip is older than mine. Under this theory, CasaBlanca was buying their chips from Paulson but instead of staying with Gaming Partners International, they went with that supplier's former owners' new company, Blue Chip. The rights to the center insert graphics probably belong to the casino rather than the chip manufacturer, so CasaBlanca provided the insert graphic (with the red ring for the $1 chip changed to black for the $5 chip) to Blue Chip. That's my story and I'm sticking to it until someone comes up with a better one.

I acquired my chip in October of 2010. I don't know how long it'd been in the tray, and I didn't notice if there were chips from more than one manufacturer present. I wonder what the chip sourcing process is like. Does specialization present a hurdle to changing vendors, or are the clay blanks enough of a commodity that a change is easy to make?

I got my CasaBlanca chip on April 27, 2010. If a casino changes chip suppliers for a refill of chips, I suspect they would have a chip mix in their trays for years. They would only have uniformity if they withdrew a series of chips.

I'm not sure what you meant by specialization and clay blanks. I think that there is probably a significant hurdle to being able to enter the chip business and know how to produce a quality chip. In this case, however, the Blue Chip company was started by the family that had owned Paulson. They probably retained enough expertise to start up Blue Chip, and they may have stolen key employees from their former company. The trick would have been to have avoided some sort of non-compete clause in the sale of their old business. They may have had a good enough personal relationship with the buyers at a bunch of casinos so that Blue Chip marketing had an advantage over the people they sold Paulson to.

Pure speculaton.

Quote: Doc

Pure speculaton.

As prices and safety scares about the ingredients vary, perhaps prices vary as do the decision makers at the casinos. In the pure speculation department, I might think that the requirement for a casino to have two entire sets of chips on hand at all times just might make the casino want to have two totally different sets not just in "design" but also in look and haptic feedback. This would make the second set, kept in reserve, more valuable since any major robbery or counterfeiting event that forced a sudden change would involve a change in the look and feel of the chips that all personnel would have at all times, thus rendering the stolen chips as worthless during even the most hectic times. Worthless at the tables, worthless at the cage, immediately suspect to all employees irrespective of their roles or their seniority.

So buying from two companies could just be a safety measure or a casino ploy to keep the market competitive rather than a monopoly.

Every reference I see to the casino calls it CasaBlanca (no space).

Casinos do keep two sets. Periodically they will bring out the other set when they place holds on certain chips because of thefts. In recent years the Bellagio, MGM and Caesars have, at some point, used the back up chips.

Quote: teddys

Every reference I see to the casino calls it CasaBlanca (no space).

You are correct. That is my error. I will edit my previous post.

Thanks.


Edit: I actually went back and edited all of my recent posts that had this error. I even went back and changed my image file names. Hopefully, I have everything correct now (at least on this point). Thanks again.

Quote: Doc

You are correct. That is my error. I will edit my previous post.

Thanks.


Edit: I actually went back and edited all of my recent posts that had this error. I even went back and changed my image file names. Hopefully, I have everything correct now (at least on this point). Thanks again.

Never let it be said you aren't obsessive-compulsive :)

Quote: teddys

Never let it be said you aren't obsessive-compulsive :)

Whether I "let" it or not, I doubt that anyone who knows me would say that. Have you noticed how obsessively I keep updating the first post in this thread?

State: Nevada
City: Las Vegas
Casino: Casino Royale

Yes, this is the only casino in Nevada that I have alphabetized by "Casino".

The Casino Royale and Hotel is a small place on the east side of the Las Vegas strip, nestled between behemoths Harrah's and the Venetian. It belongs to Tom Elardi, and previously belonged to his mother, Margaret Elardi. Some on-line directories say she owns it now; I'm not even sure she is still alive. I don't have trustworthy resources on such things. Anyone know for certain? I do have the NGCB listing of non-restricted licenses that confirms that Thomas Edward Elardi is the current owner of 100% of the casino.

Margaret did own a series of casinos in downtown Las Vegas, Laughlin, and on the strip, and she fought a protracted, vicious battle with the Culinary Workers Union at her Frontier Hotel and Casino, while Tom managed the place for her. She sold the place rather than sign a contract with them. From what I have read, "feisty" is an appropriate descriptor.

The casino opened in 1992, and presumably was named for Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel or the novel's casino in the fictional French town of Royale-Les-Eaux. There seems to be a little irony there – do they even have baccarat at the Las Vegas edition of Casino Royale? The casino is most commonly mentioned on this forum as a casino for low rollers where you have long been able to get 100x free odds at craps.

The Casino Royale chip shown below is a ceramic chip that was manufactured by Chipco and has a satin finish. The edge printing is limited to three black bands that look somewhat similar to the edge inserts on a clay chip. They can barely be seen in the photo.

According to one web resource, this same face graphic was used for several Casino Royale chips issued throughout the 1990s, with the differences being minor changes in the colors, mostly in the scrollwork near the top. Some also had different surface textures. I think the colors in this image of my chip are accurate. I haven't looked carefully, but I don't think I have any other chips in my collection that specifically say that they are from the Las Vegas Strip.

Quote: Doc

The casino opened in 1992, and presumably was named for Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel or the novel's casino in the fictional French town of Royale-Les-Eaux. There seems to be a little irony there – do they even have baccarat at the Las Vegas edition of Casino Royale? The casino is most commonly mentioned on this forum as a casino for low rollers where you have long been able to get 100x free odds at craps.

Think about it.

For starters, they missed doing Bond theme for the casino. But then, the casino is as far removed from Bond's persona as is possible. It would have best fit a luxurious place. So, yes, it's ironic that the Casino is named after a character who wouldn't be caught dead there :)

My Casino Royale chip is identical so I won't post a pic, but I was looking this casino up in my chip guide and it notes there was a "Casino Royal" in Vegas from 1971-1977. Anybody recall that one?

Looks like this is another case where my chip is a Paulson while Doc's is not. I wonder if that's a function of when we collected the chips, when the casinos ordered the chips, or other factors.

Quote: Johnzimbo

My Casino Royale chip is identical so I won't post a pic, but I was looking this casino up in my chip guide and it notes there was a "Casino Royal" in Vegas from 1971-1977. Anybody recall that one?

Nope, before my time in Vegas.


Excellent chip, rdw4potus. Yes, we once again have an example of a casino using chips from multiple manufacturers. Your chip is the Short Cane Version of the top hat and cane design from Paulson, while mine is from Chipco. Perhaps Johnzimbo has better info in his guide, but the on-line resource I checked suggests that my chip was issued 1998 and yours in 2007.

Quote: Nareed

For starters, they missed doing Bond theme for the casino. But then, the casino is as far removed from Bond's persona as is possible. It would have best fit a luxurious place. So, yes, it's ironic that the Casino is named after a character who wouldn't be caught dead there :)

Actually, Bond was playing over at the Venetian... he gets whacked and they have to dispose of the body somewhere... they take it outside and see Casino Royale with its dealers who look like they've seen death... and that's where the body is now!

All kidding aside, I have a fond memory from Casino Royale. On my trip in February 2010, I was playing at Wynn and lost a bit of money on a new game. As I walking back to my room at the Flamingo, I stopped at CR to get their generous (at the time) coupons including the bonus on a 4-of-a-kind. I found an 8-5 Bonus Poker machine in quarters, sat down and played. I couldn't hit quads to save my life, but I held a K-Q of hearts and hit the Royal Flush in the meantime! I still had to hit quads to get the bonus, hit my 7s (finally) and cashed out up quite a bit.

Quote: Doc

Yes, we once again have an example of a casino using chips from multiple manufacturer. Your chip is the Short Cane Version of the top hat and cane design from Paulson, while mine is from Chipco. Perhaps Johnzimbo has better info in his guide, but the on-line resource I checked suggests that my chip was issued 1998 and yours in 2007.

My guide shows their first issue was a mixture...$0.25 chips were Bud Jones but $1, 5 and 25 were Chipco. I wonder why they did that, maybe they just went with the lowest bid for each denomination? Then their most recent issue was all Hat and Cane. The book doesn't list dates as to when an issue came out, it just losts them chronologically.

BTW, if anyone has any chips they think are rare or worth much over face value I can provide info from my guide. One cool thing is the guide estimates how many of a given chip are in existence. My best chip is a $5 Dunes chip I snagged around 1982 and is what they determine to be the 14th issue. They estimate only 31-75 exist and my avg. condition chip is worth $250. Had I snagged a $25 chip, it is estimated at $2500 as there are 8-15 known to exist.