Casino Chip of the Day
April 21st, 2015 at 6:16:47 AM
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This is a neat thread but I gotta ask Doc, do you do anything besides play at casinos. i can't believe the number of chips you've accumulated. Really impressive.
April 21st, 2015 at 7:37:07 AM
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Quote: Area51This is a neat thread but I gotta ask Doc, do you do anything besides play at casinos. i can't believe the number of chips you've accumulated. Really impressive.
Doc is on vacation and away from the board (from all communication, really) for 2 weeks. I don't think he'd mind if I told you that he's retired. He and his wife enjoy travel, and they seem to find a way to visit places near casinos. a lot.
For my own part, I used to have a job that involved a lot of travel. I would (and do, when I can) plan trips to extend a few days so I could visit casinos at those times.
"So as the clock ticked and the day passed, opportunity met preparation, and luck happened." - Maurice Clarett
April 21st, 2015 at 9:09:05 AM
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State: Iowa
City: Sioux City
Casino: Hard Rock
This was collected on my way up western Iowa and WOW, this place was bustling. Probably as busy as Ameristar or Horseshoe Council Bluffs, but such a small confined space that it felt overly congested. We have a Hard Rock down here in Hollywood FL and I just never dug the atmosphere of these casinos. Apparently this location was recently opened and every table was packed. The two craps tables were 2 deep at each spot with people waiting for openings and every single table game was full. I managed to grab a chip as a dealer was opening a $50 min BJ table at 5pm on Saturday which instantly filled up.
After staying at Grand Falls that night, I traveled toward Minneapolis Sunday and stayed at Treasure Island southeast of the city. No craps in Minnesota it seems (boo) but as I watched hockey playoffs I found some very nice bartenders at the main casino bar. As opposed to the Mormon like Grand Falls casino, the pours were heavy here, the drinks cheaper and they would charge me for 2 at a time (their idea) so when I finished I could get my refill quickly. That's why I tipped them $60 when an hour into my session I hit this baby.
Royal #9 lifetime, depending on how you count. The last was my sister hitting a $2,400 royal at the Cosmo on my player's card and my money in January the day my Buckeyes won the championship. They let us switch seats so I signed for the W2G.
Overall, I'll be happy to never seen Iowa again in my life, but Minnesota was very scenic. Next trip is Philly > Pittsburgh > Buffalo in June.
City: Sioux City
Casino: Hard Rock
This was collected on my way up western Iowa and WOW, this place was bustling. Probably as busy as Ameristar or Horseshoe Council Bluffs, but such a small confined space that it felt overly congested. We have a Hard Rock down here in Hollywood FL and I just never dug the atmosphere of these casinos. Apparently this location was recently opened and every table was packed. The two craps tables were 2 deep at each spot with people waiting for openings and every single table game was full. I managed to grab a chip as a dealer was opening a $50 min BJ table at 5pm on Saturday which instantly filled up.
After staying at Grand Falls that night, I traveled toward Minneapolis Sunday and stayed at Treasure Island southeast of the city. No craps in Minnesota it seems (boo) but as I watched hockey playoffs I found some very nice bartenders at the main casino bar. As opposed to the Mormon like Grand Falls casino, the pours were heavy here, the drinks cheaper and they would charge me for 2 at a time (their idea) so when I finished I could get my refill quickly. That's why I tipped them $60 when an hour into my session I hit this baby.
Royal #9 lifetime, depending on how you count. The last was my sister hitting a $2,400 royal at the Cosmo on my player's card and my money in January the day my Buckeyes won the championship. They let us switch seats so I signed for the W2G.
Overall, I'll be happy to never seen Iowa again in my life, but Minnesota was very scenic. Next trip is Philly > Pittsburgh > Buffalo in June.
April 24th, 2015 at 6:31:45 PM
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Quote: wezvidzState: Iowa
City: Sioux City
Casino: Hard Rock
Hard rock was built based on the idea that the Argosy would remain docked nearby. In that scenario, each casino would handle part of the total demand, with a downtown entertainment district around and between the properties. But, the Argosy's operators didn't like their land lease situation or their expected drop in demand. So they executed an opt-out clause and closed down. Now the city has a little bit of a mismatch - the elderly farmers that make up the bread and butter of the Sioux City area fit in well at Argosy but don't really blend in at Hard Rock at all.
"So as the clock ticked and the day passed, opportunity met preparation, and luck happened." - Maurice Clarett
April 25th, 2015 at 12:49:00 AM
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Thanks for the posts Wezvids! The Hard Rock chip is interesting. I wonder if the offset lettering on the ring is on purpose, or just a side effect of the random placement of the center insert?
Congrats on the win too!
Congrats on the win too!
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - Leonardo da Vinci
April 26th, 2015 at 5:59:52 PM
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Quote: wezvidzState: Iowa
City: Sioux City
Casino: Hard Rock
This was collected on my way up western Iowa and WOW, this place was bustling. Probably as busy as Ameristar or Horseshoe Council Bluffs, but such a small confined space that it felt overly congested. We have a Hard Rock down here in Hollywood FL and I just never dug the atmosphere of these casinos. Apparently this location was recently opened and every table was packed. The two craps tables were 2 deep at each spot with people waiting for openings and every single table game was full. I managed to grab a chip as a dealer was opening a $50 min BJ table at 5pm on Saturday which instantly filled up.
...
This is completely messing with my head, to have a Hard Rock in SUX. Graduated HS there nearly 40 years ago. Things have changed everywhere, including a dozen places I've lived, where gambling wasn't available, but this one in particular...man. The grave-rolling must be causing near-earthquakes.
If the House lost every hand, they wouldn't deal the game.
April 30th, 2015 at 1:37:33 PM
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I have been following this thread since I stumbled onto it around 6 months ago and I absolutely love it. I think at this point I have read almost every page on this thread! I have been collecting chips for about six years now (since I turned the legal age of 18 in Canada) I would love to contribute to the thread as I have a bunch of chips in my collection of 330 casinos visited that are not represented in this thread. I find it really cool that there are collectors as crazy as me. I go by the same rules as Doc since I started this collection that I only include casinos that I have played at in my collection, although I do have a separate bag of probably 20 chips that were given to me by other collectors.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
April 30th, 2015 at 1:48:05 PM
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Quote: PokerGrinderI have been following this thread since I stumbled onto it around 6 months ago and I absolutely love it. I think at this point I have read almost every page on this thread! I have been collecting chips for about six years now (since I turned the legal age of 18 in Canada) I would love to contribute to the thread as I have a bunch of chips in my collection of 330 casinos visited that are not represented in this thread. I find it really cool that there are collectors as crazy as me. I go by the same rules as Doc since I started this collection that I only include casinos that I have played at in my collection, although I do have a separate bag of probably 20 chips that were given to me other collectors.
Welcome PokerGrinder! We welcome your contributions. For Doc's sake, please copy and use the indexing format from a previous entry (I think non-U.S.A. entries also add "Country"), and post away!
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - Leonardo da Vinci
April 30th, 2015 at 1:54:20 PM
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Thanks Ayecarumba! Is the thread no longer doing chip of the days? Is it a posting free for all now? I will make sure to use the same format when I post the chips.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
April 30th, 2015 at 1:55:22 PM
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Yeah, PokerGrinder, welcome! Doc is away from the forum on a cruise ship or I think he would have chimed in already. Please do post your chips that are new to the thread, using the format as Aye suggested. Doc will update the index when he gets back, so you don't have to worry about that part. And if you would do 1 casino per day, rather than lumping all chips into 1 post, that would be perfect for the index.
If the House lost every hand, they wouldn't deal the game.
April 30th, 2015 at 2:20:24 PM
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Sure I will try and start tomorrow but more than likely I will start posting one a day next week. I think I have about 8-12 US casinos to post and probably around 30 Canadian casinos.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
April 30th, 2015 at 2:52:00 PM
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I just finished my count and I have 43 Canadian Casinos not listed and 32 US casinos. I am surprised that nobody here has been to Deadwood, SD, also the state of Washington is seriously under represented :)
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
April 30th, 2015 at 3:16:20 PM
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Quote: PokerGrinder, also the state of Washington is seriously under represented :)
That's because I suck at collecting. I don't even have one from the card room less than 1 mile from my home.
“Man Babes” #AxelFabulous
April 30th, 2015 at 3:20:25 PM
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The only one I have is a $5 chip from Casino Windsor/Northern Belle.
DUHHIIIIIIIII HEARD THAT!
April 30th, 2015 at 3:28:01 PM
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Quote: mipletThat's because I suck at collecting. I don't even have one from the card room less than 1 mile from my home.
Well 1 mile is a long way :P
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
May 1st, 2015 at 7:14:45 PM
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Category: Canada
City: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Casino: Casinos of Winnipeg (Regent Casino and McPhillips Street Station Casino)
I figured that I would start my posts to the forum with my home casino(s) in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The same chip set is used in both of the casinos. The two casinos used to each have their own sets of chips that had their individual names on it but they changed that a while back. I wasn’t 18 when they were still using the old chips so that means that they have been using this set of chips for at least six years.
Both of the casinos opened on June, 1993 and eventually took over the gaming from the Crystal Casino that closed in 1999 due to the success of Regent and McPhillips Casino. The casinos are both government owned and ran. The casino name’s origins are not the most imaginative as they were both named after the street that they reside on. Regent Casino is on Regent Avenue and McPhillips Street Station is on McPhillips Street.
McPhillips Casino is a former train station that was turned into the casino after the station was no longer of use. (Winnipeg used to be a major transportation hub for trains) The casino still has a few remnants of the old train station including the train schedule board from the last day that the station was in business. The Casino floor has over 800 slot machines and around 40 table games including BJ, Double Deck, Craps, Pai Gow, Baccarat, Four card draw, High card flush and THB. The Casino also has a 12 table poker room.
Regent Casino is a tropical themed casino. It has a giant fish tank with a tunnel that you walk through to get from the front of the casino to the other side. It has Palm trees and the ceiling is painted blue with clouds to try and give it the tropical look. Regent Casino has over 900 slot machines and over 30 table games that are the same as McPhillips Casino other than the fact that it lacks a craps table. The casino also has a six table poker room.
I was lucky enough to get my chip brand new unused when McPhillips Casino was holding their semi-annual poker series. I believe I got this chip in 2011 but I am not 100% sure on that. I went to the cage to buy chips for the cash game and they were opening up some new packages of chips. I got to my seat and immediately grabbed a brand new chip out of my rack and pocketed it to replace the chip I had grabbed years ago that had a lot of wear from its years of use.
The chip is white with 8 purple/blue inserts around the edge. The centre inlay is a slightly lighter white with Casinos of Winnipeg inside and a black $1. It also has four “1”s just outside of the centre inlay. The chip is the same on both the front and back.
I hope I gave enough information and in the right format for you Doc. If anyone has any notes or suggestions for upcoming chip of the day posts I would love to hear them. Thanks for letting me contribute to this great thread.
Doc just a thought, after I am done posting all my Canadian casinos to the thread you could separate them into provinces like you did for each state. This is 1 of 43 that I will be posting for Canadian Casinos (I also have 32 US casinos to share) so you will have British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Quebec which covers 8 of the 13 provinces and territories.
Edit 8/19/15: I posted a gift chip that I forgot that I had for Regent Casino before the casinos went to one chip for both casinos. I have added a picture here now to the original post.
City: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Casino: Casinos of Winnipeg (Regent Casino and McPhillips Street Station Casino)
I figured that I would start my posts to the forum with my home casino(s) in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The same chip set is used in both of the casinos. The two casinos used to each have their own sets of chips that had their individual names on it but they changed that a while back. I wasn’t 18 when they were still using the old chips so that means that they have been using this set of chips for at least six years.
Both of the casinos opened on June, 1993 and eventually took over the gaming from the Crystal Casino that closed in 1999 due to the success of Regent and McPhillips Casino. The casinos are both government owned and ran. The casino name’s origins are not the most imaginative as they were both named after the street that they reside on. Regent Casino is on Regent Avenue and McPhillips Street Station is on McPhillips Street.
McPhillips Casino is a former train station that was turned into the casino after the station was no longer of use. (Winnipeg used to be a major transportation hub for trains) The casino still has a few remnants of the old train station including the train schedule board from the last day that the station was in business. The Casino floor has over 800 slot machines and around 40 table games including BJ, Double Deck, Craps, Pai Gow, Baccarat, Four card draw, High card flush and THB. The Casino also has a 12 table poker room.
Regent Casino is a tropical themed casino. It has a giant fish tank with a tunnel that you walk through to get from the front of the casino to the other side. It has Palm trees and the ceiling is painted blue with clouds to try and give it the tropical look. Regent Casino has over 900 slot machines and over 30 table games that are the same as McPhillips Casino other than the fact that it lacks a craps table. The casino also has a six table poker room.
I was lucky enough to get my chip brand new unused when McPhillips Casino was holding their semi-annual poker series. I believe I got this chip in 2011 but I am not 100% sure on that. I went to the cage to buy chips for the cash game and they were opening up some new packages of chips. I got to my seat and immediately grabbed a brand new chip out of my rack and pocketed it to replace the chip I had grabbed years ago that had a lot of wear from its years of use.
The chip is white with 8 purple/blue inserts around the edge. The centre inlay is a slightly lighter white with Casinos of Winnipeg inside and a black $1. It also has four “1”s just outside of the centre inlay. The chip is the same on both the front and back.
I hope I gave enough information and in the right format for you Doc. If anyone has any notes or suggestions for upcoming chip of the day posts I would love to hear them. Thanks for letting me contribute to this great thread.
Doc just a thought, after I am done posting all my Canadian casinos to the thread you could separate them into provinces like you did for each state. This is 1 of 43 that I will be posting for Canadian Casinos (I also have 32 US casinos to share) so you will have British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Quebec which covers 8 of the 13 provinces and territories.
Edit 8/19/15: I posted a gift chip that I forgot that I had for Regent Casino before the casinos went to one chip for both casinos. I have added a picture here now to the original post.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
May 2nd, 2015 at 12:28:10 AM
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PokerGrinder,
Good start, thanks! I appreciate that you are open to comments, as I don't doubt Doc will want to chime in. I am not a photographer by any means, but my only suggestion would be to put a lot more light onto the chip for a sharper detail picture. At least I think that's what's needed.
I edited your top lines to bold the index entries. If you use the "edit" button on your post, you can see how it just uses a b and /b at the beginning and end, both in brackets.
Thanks again for the interesting entry! My mom came from Winnipeg, so we used to use that train station when I was little and we went to visit her parents. It was a treat!
Good start, thanks! I appreciate that you are open to comments, as I don't doubt Doc will want to chime in. I am not a photographer by any means, but my only suggestion would be to put a lot more light onto the chip for a sharper detail picture. At least I think that's what's needed.
I edited your top lines to bold the index entries. If you use the "edit" button on your post, you can see how it just uses a b and /b at the beginning and end, both in brackets.
Thanks again for the interesting entry! My mom came from Winnipeg, so we used to use that train station when I was little and we went to visit her parents. It was a treat!
If the House lost every hand, they wouldn't deal the game.
May 2nd, 2015 at 2:32:45 AM
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Sounds good beachbumbabs, I am not the greatest with a camera but I will definitely take the pictures in a better lit spot. Thanks I see what you did and will use that for the rest of the posts. Oh that is really cool, small world I guess.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
May 2nd, 2015 at 1:57:22 PM
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Quote: beachbumbabsPokerGrinder,
I am not a photographer by any means, but my only suggestion would be to put a lot more light onto the chip for a sharper detail picture. At least I think that's what's needed.
I hope this is better :)
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
May 2nd, 2015 at 2:04:42 PM
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Category: Canada
City: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Casino: Shark Club
My next casino is the Shark Club Casino also in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Shark Club is both a sports bar and a casino. The casino is separated by a wall/door from the sports bar/lounge. The Shark Club originally was just a bar/lounge and has 10 locations across Canada. The Winnipeg location is the only one that includes a casino. It was built specifically for Winnipeg Jets ownership. We lost our NHL team back in 1996 to Phoenix where they became the Phoenix Coyotes. In 2011 a group called True North reached an agreement to buy the Atlanta Thrashers and move them to Winnipeg to become the new Jets. Part of their deal with the city was that they could build and open a mini casino. The Shark club is owned by True North but run by Casinos of Winnipeg, True North receives the majority of the income from the entertainment facility. The Casino is located right across the street from the MTS centre where the Jets play in downtown Winnipeg.
The Shark Club opened in June of 2013. The Casino half of Shark Club has 140 slot machines and 7 table games including 2 roulette tables, 4 BJ tables and a big wheel. The average crowd in the Shark club is much younger than other casinos because of the bar attached. It seems like one big drunken party to me when I have gone in the past. The Casino really pushes the drinking aspect of the experience with two bar stations in the little gaming area as well as roaming waitresses to bring you drinks. I have been in over 300 casinos in my life and I would have to say this casino is one of a kind especially before, during and after games and concerts at the MTS Centre. It is hard to describe as anything other than controlled rowdiness.
I got my chip almost brand new as I went the first week that it opened. I went during the day when it was slower because it was crazy busy the first month it was open. I played BJ to get my chip, it was a $25 table and I was down a ton before making a comeback eventually winning $50. The chip is the same model as the Casinos of Winnipeg chip. It is Blue with 8 white inserts around the edges. The centre inlay is white with the Shark Club logo and Shark Club Entertainment over $1 and Winnipeg, MB all in black. Both sides of the chip are the same.
City: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Casino: Shark Club
My next casino is the Shark Club Casino also in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Shark Club is both a sports bar and a casino. The casino is separated by a wall/door from the sports bar/lounge. The Shark Club originally was just a bar/lounge and has 10 locations across Canada. The Winnipeg location is the only one that includes a casino. It was built specifically for Winnipeg Jets ownership. We lost our NHL team back in 1996 to Phoenix where they became the Phoenix Coyotes. In 2011 a group called True North reached an agreement to buy the Atlanta Thrashers and move them to Winnipeg to become the new Jets. Part of their deal with the city was that they could build and open a mini casino. The Shark club is owned by True North but run by Casinos of Winnipeg, True North receives the majority of the income from the entertainment facility. The Casino is located right across the street from the MTS centre where the Jets play in downtown Winnipeg.
The Shark Club opened in June of 2013. The Casino half of Shark Club has 140 slot machines and 7 table games including 2 roulette tables, 4 BJ tables and a big wheel. The average crowd in the Shark club is much younger than other casinos because of the bar attached. It seems like one big drunken party to me when I have gone in the past. The Casino really pushes the drinking aspect of the experience with two bar stations in the little gaming area as well as roaming waitresses to bring you drinks. I have been in over 300 casinos in my life and I would have to say this casino is one of a kind especially before, during and after games and concerts at the MTS Centre. It is hard to describe as anything other than controlled rowdiness.
I got my chip almost brand new as I went the first week that it opened. I went during the day when it was slower because it was crazy busy the first month it was open. I played BJ to get my chip, it was a $25 table and I was down a ton before making a comeback eventually winning $50. The chip is the same model as the Casinos of Winnipeg chip. It is Blue with 8 white inserts around the edges. The centre inlay is white with the Shark Club logo and Shark Club Entertainment over $1 and Winnipeg, MB all in black. Both sides of the chip are the same.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
May 2nd, 2015 at 7:49:30 PM
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PokerGrinder,
Great improvement in picture quality! Nice work.
Great improvement in picture quality! Nice work.
If the House lost every hand, they wouldn't deal the game.
May 2nd, 2015 at 8:30:37 PM
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Is there a Sandman Hotel attached? Sandman and Sharks Club have the same ownership. The Sharks Clubs that are close to an arena usually are a mad house on game night.
Be careful when you follow the masses, the M is sometimes silent.
May 2nd, 2015 at 11:50:34 PM
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Quote: beachbumbabsGreat improvement in picture quality! Nice work.
Good I am glad, used a lamp over the chips. No Sandman hotel but I have noticed those popping up lately. Winnipeg has one by the airport now.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
May 3rd, 2015 at 10:42:33 AM
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Category: Canada
City: Scanterbury, Manitoba
Casino: South Beach Casino
I guess I will do South Beach Casino next. It is located about a 40 minute drive north of Winnipeg in Scanterbury, MB on the Brokenhead Indian Reserve. It is owned by 7 Indian Reserves. South Beach Casino opened on May 28th, 2005. The casino has a tropical theme. It has 600 slot machines, poker room and 13 table games including BJ, Double deck, Pai Gow, Texas Shootout, Roulette and Baccarat.
The Casino has a bar and a buffet as well as its hotel. As far as food at the casino I would avoid the buffet at all costs seeing as it is an upset stomach waiting to happen. The bar food is well, perfectly acceptable bar food.
My first visit to South Beach was with my mom around 2010. We decided to make the drive and check it out I played about 10 mins of BJ to get my chip pretty much breaking even. I then went to play the keno machines with my mom and not sure what was going on with the new keno machines but my mom and I hit the jackpot 13 times between us on our two machines over about 3 hours while nobody beside us was having any luck. Each “jackpot” was worth 225 quarters on a quarter bet or $56.25 so that definitely made the trip worth it. Still the weirdest run of luck I have ever seen on a slot machine not that I play them much.
The chip is a white Paulson hat and cane with three edge inserts (brown, green and orange). The centre inlay has the South Beach Casino name and logo along with a big $1 and Scanterbury, MB in small lettering. Both sides of the chips are the same.
The reserve has 4 businesses. The casino, a bingo hall, a slot parlor/bar and gas station/chicken delight so I guess the residents of the reserve gamble a lot unless they make the drive into Winnipeg. Not much else to add so I guess that is all for today.
City: Scanterbury, Manitoba
Casino: South Beach Casino
I guess I will do South Beach Casino next. It is located about a 40 minute drive north of Winnipeg in Scanterbury, MB on the Brokenhead Indian Reserve. It is owned by 7 Indian Reserves. South Beach Casino opened on May 28th, 2005. The casino has a tropical theme. It has 600 slot machines, poker room and 13 table games including BJ, Double deck, Pai Gow, Texas Shootout, Roulette and Baccarat.
The Casino has a bar and a buffet as well as its hotel. As far as food at the casino I would avoid the buffet at all costs seeing as it is an upset stomach waiting to happen. The bar food is well, perfectly acceptable bar food.
My first visit to South Beach was with my mom around 2010. We decided to make the drive and check it out I played about 10 mins of BJ to get my chip pretty much breaking even. I then went to play the keno machines with my mom and not sure what was going on with the new keno machines but my mom and I hit the jackpot 13 times between us on our two machines over about 3 hours while nobody beside us was having any luck. Each “jackpot” was worth 225 quarters on a quarter bet or $56.25 so that definitely made the trip worth it. Still the weirdest run of luck I have ever seen on a slot machine not that I play them much.
The chip is a white Paulson hat and cane with three edge inserts (brown, green and orange). The centre inlay has the South Beach Casino name and logo along with a big $1 and Scanterbury, MB in small lettering. Both sides of the chips are the same.
The reserve has 4 businesses. The casino, a bingo hall, a slot parlor/bar and gas station/chicken delight so I guess the residents of the reserve gamble a lot unless they make the drive into Winnipeg. Not much else to add so I guess that is all for today.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
May 3rd, 2015 at 10:29:34 PM
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Category: Canada
City: Carberry, Manitoba
Casino: Sand Hills Casino
The next casino is the sister casino of South Beach Casino. It opened in June 2014 after multiple years of fighting with the government to get a gaming licence. It is located 30 minutes from Brandon, Manitoba and 2.5 hours from Winnipeg on the Swan Lake First Nation just south of Carberry. It is a very small casino with 300 slot machines and 5 table games and 2 poker tables. The table games include 4 BJ and a roulette table.
I made the 2.5 hour boring drive about a month after the casino opened mostly to get my chip. I played BJ and lost about $400 which didn’t make it a happy trip but I got my chip so I guess it was a good trip. Also my chip is in really good condition because I went so soon after the place opened. I was impressed with the little casino; it doesn’t really have much of theme. This casino trip was pretty boring so not too much to say on this casino.
The chip is a white Paulson hat and cane. It has 2 blue inserts and 2 Dark blue/light blue/dark blue inserts on the edge of the chip. The centre inlay has Sand Hills Casino with the logo, a big blue $1 and Carberry, MB. Both sides of the chip are the same.
Going out of town for three days on a chip collecting trip through SD and IA so I won't be posting another chip of the day until probably Friday.
City: Carberry, Manitoba
Casino: Sand Hills Casino
The next casino is the sister casino of South Beach Casino. It opened in June 2014 after multiple years of fighting with the government to get a gaming licence. It is located 30 minutes from Brandon, Manitoba and 2.5 hours from Winnipeg on the Swan Lake First Nation just south of Carberry. It is a very small casino with 300 slot machines and 5 table games and 2 poker tables. The table games include 4 BJ and a roulette table.
I made the 2.5 hour boring drive about a month after the casino opened mostly to get my chip. I played BJ and lost about $400 which didn’t make it a happy trip but I got my chip so I guess it was a good trip. Also my chip is in really good condition because I went so soon after the place opened. I was impressed with the little casino; it doesn’t really have much of theme. This casino trip was pretty boring so not too much to say on this casino.
The chip is a white Paulson hat and cane. It has 2 blue inserts and 2 Dark blue/light blue/dark blue inserts on the edge of the chip. The centre inlay has Sand Hills Casino with the logo, a big blue $1 and Carberry, MB. Both sides of the chip are the same.
Going out of town for three days on a chip collecting trip through SD and IA so I won't be posting another chip of the day until probably Friday.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
May 3rd, 2015 at 11:54:58 PM
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You may be wondering about the lack of interaction, but this thread doesn't generate a lot of discussion. However, I want to encourage you to keep posting as you can. Thanks so much and good luck on your trip!
If the House lost every hand, they wouldn't deal the game.
May 4th, 2015 at 1:00:28 AM
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Quote: beachbumbabsYou may be wondering about the lack of interaction, but this thread doesn't generate a lot of discussion. However, I want to encourage you to keep posting as you can. Thanks so much and good luck on your trip!
I am not too worried Babs I have read almost every page of the thread and know that interaction comes and goes. Doc also provides a large portion of the interaction and he is away at the moment. I will most definitely continue to post when i get back. Thanks I hope the gambling G-ds like me for the next couple of days!
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
May 4th, 2015 at 1:31:57 PM
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Wow! I thought this thread had just about died. Then I go out of town (country) for a couple of weeks, and while I'm absent, we get six new casinos presented by two different posters. Thanks to both wezvidz and PokerGrinder for their contributions thus far.
I have to admit that I have a wee bit of trouble thinking about a South Beach themed casino located in Manitoba. I've never been to either South Beach or Manitoba, but the mixture just boggles my mind.
I have brought the page 1 index up to date and am looking forward to more new casinos being presented. I will think about PokerGrinder's suggestion about breaking Canada chips down by province after he has finished his block of chips, but for now I think having them all together works OK -- we have individual states with more casinos represented than all of Canada.
If we could just find someone to post a new casino every day, I would love for this thread to return to chip-of-the-day status. Maybe you're just the right person to drag the thread out of the doldrums for a while.
When there are multiple members who have chips they have indicated that they want to post, I usually try to co-ordinate who should take the lead role, just so we don't wind up having three new casinos the same day followed by another dry spell. In this case, I am still expecting more contributions from wezvidz, but there had been a nine-day gap, so I think it was just fine for PokerGrinder to leap into the breach and start posting from his collection when he did. If wezvidz does have more to show us, then I think those posts will fit fine whenever PokerGrinder indicates he will be away (such as these next few days) or when he has completed his presentations.
BTW, thanks to both rdw4potus and beachbumbabs for covering for me while I was away.
During my latest travels, I added just two new chips to my collection. I don't have them photographed yet (just got home about 3 this morning), but if I can wake up and get my act back together, maybe I can get those two posted before PokerGrinder is back from his own trip. That is, unless wezvidz indicates he is ready to fill this period, in which case I will certainly wait.
I have to admit that I have a wee bit of trouble thinking about a South Beach themed casino located in Manitoba. I've never been to either South Beach or Manitoba, but the mixture just boggles my mind.
I have brought the page 1 index up to date and am looking forward to more new casinos being presented. I will think about PokerGrinder's suggestion about breaking Canada chips down by province after he has finished his block of chips, but for now I think having them all together works OK -- we have individual states with more casinos represented than all of Canada.
Quote: PokerGrinder (back on page 491)Is the thread no longer doing chip of the days? Is it a posting free for all now?
If we could just find someone to post a new casino every day, I would love for this thread to return to chip-of-the-day status. Maybe you're just the right person to drag the thread out of the doldrums for a while.
When there are multiple members who have chips they have indicated that they want to post, I usually try to co-ordinate who should take the lead role, just so we don't wind up having three new casinos the same day followed by another dry spell. In this case, I am still expecting more contributions from wezvidz, but there had been a nine-day gap, so I think it was just fine for PokerGrinder to leap into the breach and start posting from his collection when he did. If wezvidz does have more to show us, then I think those posts will fit fine whenever PokerGrinder indicates he will be away (such as these next few days) or when he has completed his presentations.
BTW, thanks to both rdw4potus and beachbumbabs for covering for me while I was away.
During my latest travels, I added just two new chips to my collection. I don't have them photographed yet (just got home about 3 this morning), but if I can wake up and get my act back together, maybe I can get those two posted before PokerGrinder is back from his own trip. That is, unless wezvidz indicates he is ready to fill this period, in which case I will certainly wait.
May 5th, 2015 at 1:47:14 AM
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It is a little weird having a south beach casino in farm country. I will be back early Friday so I can start posting chip of the day again on Friday if nobody else is ready to post. I have about 70 to post right now. I think all 16 I am getting on my current trip are already posted. I am glad that the thread didn't die I love reading it everyday. Look forward to your posts Doc.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
May 5th, 2015 at 2:04:16 PM
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It's great to see new chips in this thread again! Hopefully, we can keep this up for a while.
I just returned from a somewhat-impromptu chip collecting trip. I have chips from several card clubs in NH and NB, as well as casinos in QC, ME, NS, and PE. Doc has already posted chips from several places that I visited, and PG will likely cover others. But, I could take a turn and post the chips from NH (and any others that haven't been covered yet).
I just returned from a somewhat-impromptu chip collecting trip. I have chips from several card clubs in NH and NB, as well as casinos in QC, ME, NS, and PE. Doc has already posted chips from several places that I visited, and PG will likely cover others. But, I could take a turn and post the chips from NH (and any others that haven't been covered yet).
"So as the clock ticked and the day passed, opportunity met preparation, and luck happened." - Maurice Clarett
May 5th, 2015 at 6:36:32 PM
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Quote: PokerGrinderCategory: Canada
City: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Casino: Casinos of Winnipeg (Regent Casino and McPhillips Street Station Casino)
...The chip is white with 8 purple/blue inserts around the edge. The centre inlay is a slightly lighter white with Casinos of Winnipeg inside and a black $1. It also has four “1”s just outside of the centre inlay. The chip is the same on both the front and back.
The edge inserts make this chip look like it was manufactured by our friends at Mitsui.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - Leonardo da Vinci
May 5th, 2015 at 6:51:35 PM
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Quote: PokerGrinderCategory: Canada
City: Carberry, Manitoba
Casino: Sand Hills Casino
...The chip is a white Paulson hat and cane. It has 2 blue inserts and 2 Dark blue/light blue/dark blue inserts on the edge of the chip. The centre inlay has Sand Hills Casino with the logo, a big blue $1 and Carberry, MB. Both sides of the chip are the same....
The two adjacent colors edge insert (the light blue "rectangle" inside of the two dark blue "right triangles", strikes me as unique for a Paulson H&C. Have there been other chips with this feature, or is it just the Carolina color palette catching my attention?
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - Leonardo da Vinci
May 5th, 2015 at 9:46:56 PM
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Category: Cruise Ships
Cruise Line: Celebrity
Ship: Silhouette
As noted before, during PokerGrinder’s absence I will try to post my two newest chips. It is already into the first hour of Wednesday 5/6/15 here in the east, but since the forum operates on Las Vegas time, I will consider this a Tuesday Casino-Chip-of-the-Day and maybe get my other post prepared late in the day on Wednesday.
My wife and I have recently completed a 14-night cruise on the Celebrity Silhouette, sailing from Ft. Lauderdale to Lisbon, Portugal; Le Havre, France (with a shore excursion to Paris); Zeebrugge, Belgium (shore excursion to Bruges – or Brugge, depending on which of the two more-common national languages you want to spell it in, of the three official national languages they use); and finally Amsterdam, Netherlands.
In that last port, a tour guide provided a couple of facts I had not previously known: (1) While Amsterdam is the official capital of the country, all of the central government operations are conducted in The Hague, a completely separate city. A particularly odd aspect of this, IMHO, is that the American embassy is in Amsterdam, while essentially all other countries have their embassies in The Hague. (2) There is a difference between “Netherlands” and “Holland.” Do any of you want to present it, or maybe just make guesses, before I answer in a different post?
This was our sixteenth cruise, our fourth cruise on a Celebrity ship, and our third trans-Atlantic voyage though the first one in the eastbound direction.
The Silhouette is one of five ships that Celebrity lists in their Solstice class, a bit larger than the others we have sailed on with this line. It launched in July 2011, is rated at 122,400 gross tons, and can carry 2,885 passengers. Or maybe 2,886, depending upon which line of the Wikipedia article you choose to believe.
Among the ship’s amenities is a fairly nice casino – nice in almost all ways except for the manner in which they kept taking my money at the craps table. All casino gaming is in U.S. dollars, as is everything else on the ship, even when they are on itineraries far from the U.S. The casino has quite a few slot machines for a ship casino, but I did not notice any video poker machines at all. They have two roulette tables, two tables of 3-card poker, at least four blackjack tables, the single and nefarious craps table, and a single poker table where they dealt Texas hold ‘em cash games and tournaments.
I played two, brief sessions of blackjack, when the craps table was not open, but I did not participate in any of the other games listed. I briefly watched one poker game being dealt, and it appeared that they were playing 2-5 NL. I did not note what kind of rake they collected.
The 3CP tables had Pair Plus payouts of 1-3-6-30-40 and Ante bonus payouts of 1-3-4. It has been so long since I played that game that I don’t recall whether that is a “normal” payout table or even if that is an adequate description. The craps game was a $10 minimum, with field paying 2x on both 2 and 12, vig collected on the buy, 3x4x5x odds, and hop bets paying 15 or 30 to 1. That minimum is higher than I have encountered on other ships, but the allowed odds bets are higher multiples also, with 2x being a limit I have often seen.
I did not pay attention to the minimum bets allowed on 3CP or roulette. When blackjack tables were idle, the electronic signs proclaimed minimum bets of anywhere from $10 to $50. However, I never saw a shoe-game in action with anything but a $5 minimum wager. Those games used 8 decks hand shuffled and offered a Lucky Ladies side bet, with blackjack paying 3 to 2. The side bet had a payout table of 4-9-19-125- and 1,000 to 1, though I never play that and don’t know whether the game has multiple payout tables.
There was one table of single-deck BJ offered with a minimum bet of $10. That table paid blackjacks at 6 to 5. I don’t know whether it was the $10 vs. $5 minimum or some indication of intelligent players noticing the 6-5 payout, but that table was almost always staffed but without any players.
Here is a photo I was able to take in the casino without seeming to annoy anyone.
When I previously posted chips from cruise ships, I tried to post photos of the ship, too. On this cruise there was never a docking location at which I could get a good photo of the entire ship. Here is the best I could come up with.
In a previous posting of a cruise ship casino chip, I made a comment about ship design characteristics that became popular during certain decades. One of those was the multi-floor atrium, which is a bit of a design challenge for a large ship. Since I can only provide a low-quality photo of the exterior of the Silhouette, I though I could contribute an extra-low-quality video of the Silhouette’s Grand Foyer, as viewed from a glass elevator travelling from deck #3 to deck #15.
Silhouette Grand Foyer
My souvenir from the Silhouette casino is a light blue (not light gray as it appears in the photo) ceramic chip. It seems like ages since I have posted chips from my collection, and at the moment my brain doesn’t seem to be able to identify the manufacturer. If the ID comes to me, I will edit this post. The two sides differ only in that one side has the name of the cruise line and the other has the name of the ship. Nothing on the chip fluoresces under UV light.
I don’t usually do this, but since I had the opportunity while on board, I got photos of the full set of the commonly-used Silhouette chips. The only higher-denomination chips I saw were $500 purple ones, and I never saw one of those being played in a game and never had one in my own hand. Yes, I was inattentive when I took the photos and had the wrong face of the $5 chip up in each shot. I didn’t notice that until after I was back home and no longer had anything but the $1 souvenir chip in hand.
Cruise Line: Celebrity
Ship: Silhouette
As noted before, during PokerGrinder’s absence I will try to post my two newest chips. It is already into the first hour of Wednesday 5/6/15 here in the east, but since the forum operates on Las Vegas time, I will consider this a Tuesday Casino-Chip-of-the-Day and maybe get my other post prepared late in the day on Wednesday.
My wife and I have recently completed a 14-night cruise on the Celebrity Silhouette, sailing from Ft. Lauderdale to Lisbon, Portugal; Le Havre, France (with a shore excursion to Paris); Zeebrugge, Belgium (shore excursion to Bruges – or Brugge, depending on which of the two more-common national languages you want to spell it in, of the three official national languages they use); and finally Amsterdam, Netherlands.
In that last port, a tour guide provided a couple of facts I had not previously known: (1) While Amsterdam is the official capital of the country, all of the central government operations are conducted in The Hague, a completely separate city. A particularly odd aspect of this, IMHO, is that the American embassy is in Amsterdam, while essentially all other countries have their embassies in The Hague. (2) There is a difference between “Netherlands” and “Holland.” Do any of you want to present it, or maybe just make guesses, before I answer in a different post?
This was our sixteenth cruise, our fourth cruise on a Celebrity ship, and our third trans-Atlantic voyage though the first one in the eastbound direction.
The Silhouette is one of five ships that Celebrity lists in their Solstice class, a bit larger than the others we have sailed on with this line. It launched in July 2011, is rated at 122,400 gross tons, and can carry 2,885 passengers. Or maybe 2,886, depending upon which line of the Wikipedia article you choose to believe.
Among the ship’s amenities is a fairly nice casino – nice in almost all ways except for the manner in which they kept taking my money at the craps table. All casino gaming is in U.S. dollars, as is everything else on the ship, even when they are on itineraries far from the U.S. The casino has quite a few slot machines for a ship casino, but I did not notice any video poker machines at all. They have two roulette tables, two tables of 3-card poker, at least four blackjack tables, the single and nefarious craps table, and a single poker table where they dealt Texas hold ‘em cash games and tournaments.
I played two, brief sessions of blackjack, when the craps table was not open, but I did not participate in any of the other games listed. I briefly watched one poker game being dealt, and it appeared that they were playing 2-5 NL. I did not note what kind of rake they collected.
The 3CP tables had Pair Plus payouts of 1-3-6-30-40 and Ante bonus payouts of 1-3-4. It has been so long since I played that game that I don’t recall whether that is a “normal” payout table or even if that is an adequate description. The craps game was a $10 minimum, with field paying 2x on both 2 and 12, vig collected on the buy, 3x4x5x odds, and hop bets paying 15 or 30 to 1. That minimum is higher than I have encountered on other ships, but the allowed odds bets are higher multiples also, with 2x being a limit I have often seen.
I did not pay attention to the minimum bets allowed on 3CP or roulette. When blackjack tables were idle, the electronic signs proclaimed minimum bets of anywhere from $10 to $50. However, I never saw a shoe-game in action with anything but a $5 minimum wager. Those games used 8 decks hand shuffled and offered a Lucky Ladies side bet, with blackjack paying 3 to 2. The side bet had a payout table of 4-9-19-125- and 1,000 to 1, though I never play that and don’t know whether the game has multiple payout tables.
There was one table of single-deck BJ offered with a minimum bet of $10. That table paid blackjacks at 6 to 5. I don’t know whether it was the $10 vs. $5 minimum or some indication of intelligent players noticing the 6-5 payout, but that table was almost always staffed but without any players.
Here is a photo I was able to take in the casino without seeming to annoy anyone.
When I previously posted chips from cruise ships, I tried to post photos of the ship, too. On this cruise there was never a docking location at which I could get a good photo of the entire ship. Here is the best I could come up with.
In a previous posting of a cruise ship casino chip, I made a comment about ship design characteristics that became popular during certain decades. One of those was the multi-floor atrium, which is a bit of a design challenge for a large ship. Since I can only provide a low-quality photo of the exterior of the Silhouette, I though I could contribute an extra-low-quality video of the Silhouette’s Grand Foyer, as viewed from a glass elevator travelling from deck #3 to deck #15.
Silhouette Grand Foyer
My souvenir from the Silhouette casino is a light blue (not light gray as it appears in the photo) ceramic chip. It seems like ages since I have posted chips from my collection, and at the moment my brain doesn’t seem to be able to identify the manufacturer. If the ID comes to me, I will edit this post. The two sides differ only in that one side has the name of the cruise line and the other has the name of the ship. Nothing on the chip fluoresces under UV light.
I don’t usually do this, but since I had the opportunity while on board, I got photos of the full set of the commonly-used Silhouette chips. The only higher-denomination chips I saw were $500 purple ones, and I never saw one of those being played in a game and never had one in my own hand. Yes, I was inattentive when I took the photos and had the wrong face of the $5 chip up in each shot. I didn’t notice that until after I was back home and no longer had anything but the $1 souvenir chip in hand.
Last edited by: Doc on Sep 29, 2019
May 5th, 2015 at 10:13:46 PM
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Quote: Doc...The 3CP tables had Pair Plus payouts of 1-3-6-30-40 and Ante bonus payouts of 1-3-4. It has been so long since I played that game that I don’t recall whether that is a “normal” payout table or even if that is an adequate description...
Both are lousy. Full pay is 1-4-6-30-40 & 1-4-5 respectively.
DUHHIIIIIIIII HEARD THAT!
May 6th, 2015 at 5:00:19 AM
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I don't collect chips but back around '02 I got $20 worth of Binion's Horseshoe $1 chips.
I think if I were going to collect anything it would be ball point pens. They're free.
I think if I were going to collect anything it would be ball point pens. They're free.
May 6th, 2015 at 6:54:35 AM
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Free? As I have often stated, some of my souvenir $1 chips were very expensive, and some they actually paid me to take.
May 6th, 2015 at 10:41:54 PM
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Category: Europe
City: Amsterdam (Schiphol Airport), Netherlands
Casino: Holland Casino
One thing that I have learned in my wandering and collecting is that cruise travel generally does not offer an effective way to visit land-based casinos. OK, I know that sounds a little silly – the ships tend to be at sea and in only the most rare of situations do they even come within a good stone throw of a land-based casino.
But given that the ships do come into port at a location from which you could reasonably travel to a land casino, there is still a significant challenge: It seems that many gambling facilities do not operate according to the Las Vegas model; at many such facilities, gaming is considered an evening/night activity, and they do not open for business until 4 to 6 p.m. By that time, most cruise ships have departed for the next port of call, or at least the passengers need to be back on board in preparation for sailing.
The Caribbean islands seem to be an exception to that pattern, and all of the Caribbean casino chips I have presented in this thread were collected during cruise ship visits to the casinos' islands.
When my wife and I were preparing for our recent trans-Atlantic cruise on the Silhouette, I was aware that there are casinos operating in/near each of our ports of call. However, I had already dismissed the possibility of collecting chips from any of them. The most reasonable opportunity seemed to be casinos near Le Havre, France, since the ship was not scheduled to sail until a later-than-typical 10 p.m., and I could reasonably expect to be allowed to remain on shore until 9 p.m. or so, by which time the casinos would be operating their table games.
However, we had scheduled a shore excursion to Paris for that port stop. Paris is 2.5 hours away by bus, and the full, guided excursion lasted from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m. That would have allowed me roughly two hours to find a taxi to the casino some five miles or so away from the port, do my gaming/collecting, and get back on board or risk being stranded. And I would have missed dinner. I decided it was not worth the hassle. There was a similarly-unattractive opportunity in Lisbon, so I had just accepted that this would not really be a chip-collecting trip.
On the final day of our trip, our ship arrived in Amsterdam, and we had scheduled a guided bus tour of the city, terminating with delivering us and our baggage to the airport for our flight home that evening. It was one of those typical bus tours, where you rarely if ever are allowed off the bus, can barely see the things that the guide is talking about, and can’t get any decent photos because you are trying to shoot past the other passengers and through the bus windows with all of their reflections. Not a good scenario for filling up your SD card with beautiful images of the scenery and architecture.
Our tour did include a cruise on one of the canal boats, which gave some limited opportunity to make use of the camera I had been lugging along, so I might as well show one shot I found interesting. I took it looking down a canal branch where there are seven bridges crossing that straight section of water path. I’m not sure whether you will be able to make out all seven of them or not when I post this.
Our guide asked for our guesses as to the depth of the canals. My suggestion was two meters. She said that the standard answer was three meters, with that further clarified as one meter of water, one meter of peat, and one meter of bicycles. Cycling is an extremely common means of getting around the city, and it seems that they have an average of 15,000 bicycles stolen in the city each year. The bulk of them are eventually dumped into a canal. Dredging bicycles, washing machines, portable toilets, and other debris from the canals seems to be a genuine annoyance in a city with such a history of water-based travel.
As we were riding around town on the bus, I noticed an establishment called the Holland Casino. That is the name of a company that has casino operations in more than a dozen locations throughout the Netherlands. It was as if our guide and/or driver were trying to torment me, because our wandering route took us past this very same casino perhaps half a dozen times without my ever having a chance to get off the bus and seek out an addition to my collection. Well, c’est la vie, or however they might say it in Flemish.
Our tour concluded, and we were dropped off at the Schiphol Airport several hours prior to our flight’s scheduled departure. There, we went through all of the typical exercises to prove that we were a couple of stupid Americans who couldn’t figure out how to check baggage, go through passport control, and clear security according to European procedure, which looked nothing like we have ever encountered in any U.S. airport. That’s a story for another day.
Anyway, we had time to catch an early meal in the airport prior to our 5:00 flight (not realizing at all how well and frequently the folks at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines intended to try to fatten us up while we were cramped into the economy seats.) While we were eating our single-slice-of-bread sandwiches at the airport, I was shocked to see that Holland Casino had a real casino – both machines and table games – operating right there next to our little restaurant, inside the terminal!
I couldn’t pass up an opportunity like that. As my wife was finishing her meal, I slipped over, checked things out, bought a €5 chip at the roulette table, and promptly lost it on a single spin of the wheel (result: green 0, which was not where I had placed the chip). That was enough to satisfy my criterion of having gambled in the casino, so I headed to the cashier (no cage) to purchase a souvenir chip. He had both €1 and €2 chips as the smallest denominations available, and I chose the latter because it looked a bit nicer than the very-plain €1 chip. I probably should have bought both, since I eventually got home with €1.70 in coins that I couldn’t exchange stateside. (Edit: really €1.85, as I came across a couple more coins after making this post.)
So here is the chip, and I am guessing it is a type used at all of the Holland Casino facilities throughout the country. It is the same on both sides, and only the pink/orange markings fluoresce under UV light. Take a look at the outer markings at the 4 and 8 o’clock positions. At first, I thought these must be some kind of kanji or something, and I couldn’t figure out what they might represent. Of course, if you look at the third emblem at the noon position, it is evident that this is an overlapping H and C, meaning Holland Casino. Talk about feeling like the stupid American!
Edit 5/22/20: Member RideTheEdge presented more chips from Holland Casino here. They are from multiple Holland Casino locations, but those locations are not shown on the chips.
City: Amsterdam (Schiphol Airport), Netherlands
Casino: Holland Casino
One thing that I have learned in my wandering and collecting is that cruise travel generally does not offer an effective way to visit land-based casinos. OK, I know that sounds a little silly – the ships tend to be at sea and in only the most rare of situations do they even come within a good stone throw of a land-based casino.
But given that the ships do come into port at a location from which you could reasonably travel to a land casino, there is still a significant challenge: It seems that many gambling facilities do not operate according to the Las Vegas model; at many such facilities, gaming is considered an evening/night activity, and they do not open for business until 4 to 6 p.m. By that time, most cruise ships have departed for the next port of call, or at least the passengers need to be back on board in preparation for sailing.
The Caribbean islands seem to be an exception to that pattern, and all of the Caribbean casino chips I have presented in this thread were collected during cruise ship visits to the casinos' islands.
When my wife and I were preparing for our recent trans-Atlantic cruise on the Silhouette, I was aware that there are casinos operating in/near each of our ports of call. However, I had already dismissed the possibility of collecting chips from any of them. The most reasonable opportunity seemed to be casinos near Le Havre, France, since the ship was not scheduled to sail until a later-than-typical 10 p.m., and I could reasonably expect to be allowed to remain on shore until 9 p.m. or so, by which time the casinos would be operating their table games.
However, we had scheduled a shore excursion to Paris for that port stop. Paris is 2.5 hours away by bus, and the full, guided excursion lasted from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m. That would have allowed me roughly two hours to find a taxi to the casino some five miles or so away from the port, do my gaming/collecting, and get back on board or risk being stranded. And I would have missed dinner. I decided it was not worth the hassle. There was a similarly-unattractive opportunity in Lisbon, so I had just accepted that this would not really be a chip-collecting trip.
On the final day of our trip, our ship arrived in Amsterdam, and we had scheduled a guided bus tour of the city, terminating with delivering us and our baggage to the airport for our flight home that evening. It was one of those typical bus tours, where you rarely if ever are allowed off the bus, can barely see the things that the guide is talking about, and can’t get any decent photos because you are trying to shoot past the other passengers and through the bus windows with all of their reflections. Not a good scenario for filling up your SD card with beautiful images of the scenery and architecture.
Our tour did include a cruise on one of the canal boats, which gave some limited opportunity to make use of the camera I had been lugging along, so I might as well show one shot I found interesting. I took it looking down a canal branch where there are seven bridges crossing that straight section of water path. I’m not sure whether you will be able to make out all seven of them or not when I post this.
Our guide asked for our guesses as to the depth of the canals. My suggestion was two meters. She said that the standard answer was three meters, with that further clarified as one meter of water, one meter of peat, and one meter of bicycles. Cycling is an extremely common means of getting around the city, and it seems that they have an average of 15,000 bicycles stolen in the city each year. The bulk of them are eventually dumped into a canal. Dredging bicycles, washing machines, portable toilets, and other debris from the canals seems to be a genuine annoyance in a city with such a history of water-based travel.
As we were riding around town on the bus, I noticed an establishment called the Holland Casino. That is the name of a company that has casino operations in more than a dozen locations throughout the Netherlands. It was as if our guide and/or driver were trying to torment me, because our wandering route took us past this very same casino perhaps half a dozen times without my ever having a chance to get off the bus and seek out an addition to my collection. Well, c’est la vie, or however they might say it in Flemish.
Our tour concluded, and we were dropped off at the Schiphol Airport several hours prior to our flight’s scheduled departure. There, we went through all of the typical exercises to prove that we were a couple of stupid Americans who couldn’t figure out how to check baggage, go through passport control, and clear security according to European procedure, which looked nothing like we have ever encountered in any U.S. airport. That’s a story for another day.
Anyway, we had time to catch an early meal in the airport prior to our 5:00 flight (not realizing at all how well and frequently the folks at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines intended to try to fatten us up while we were cramped into the economy seats.) While we were eating our single-slice-of-bread sandwiches at the airport, I was shocked to see that Holland Casino had a real casino – both machines and table games – operating right there next to our little restaurant, inside the terminal!
I couldn’t pass up an opportunity like that. As my wife was finishing her meal, I slipped over, checked things out, bought a €5 chip at the roulette table, and promptly lost it on a single spin of the wheel (result: green 0, which was not where I had placed the chip). That was enough to satisfy my criterion of having gambled in the casino, so I headed to the cashier (no cage) to purchase a souvenir chip. He had both €1 and €2 chips as the smallest denominations available, and I chose the latter because it looked a bit nicer than the very-plain €1 chip. I probably should have bought both, since I eventually got home with €1.70 in coins that I couldn’t exchange stateside. (Edit: really €1.85, as I came across a couple more coins after making this post.)
So here is the chip, and I am guessing it is a type used at all of the Holland Casino facilities throughout the country. It is the same on both sides, and only the pink/orange markings fluoresce under UV light. Take a look at the outer markings at the 4 and 8 o’clock positions. At first, I thought these must be some kind of kanji or something, and I couldn’t figure out what they might represent. Of course, if you look at the third emblem at the noon position, it is evident that this is an overlapping H and C, meaning Holland Casino. Talk about feeling like the stupid American!
Edit 5/22/20: Member RideTheEdge presented more chips from Holland Casino here. They are from multiple Holland Casino locations, but those locations are not shown on the chips.
Last edited by: Doc on May 22, 2020
May 7th, 2015 at 9:43:13 AM
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Very interesting post, Doc. I wonder if they have any tax reporting/withholding procedures if someone hits it big, then jumps on a plane to leave the country. Do you recall the max wager? Was the casino crowded? Would they exchange other currencies at the table or cage? If so, were the rates better than the dedicated forex moneychanger booth?
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - Leonardo da Vinci
May 7th, 2015 at 10:20:00 AM
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Welcome back, Doc! Thanks for sharing your trip (and chips) with the board. Sounds like it was fun.
Quote: Doc(2) There is a difference between “Netherlands” and “Holland.” Do any of you want to present it, or maybe just make guesses, before I answer in a different post?
I think I remember hearing that Holland is part of the Netherlands, but the Netherlands consist of more than just Holland. Similar to how "England" and "United Kingdom" are sometimes used interchangeably even though the UK consists of more than just England (Scotland, N. Ireland, & Wales). I'm sure there is more to it, so feel free to correct/expound)
"Dealer has 'rock'... Pay 'paper!'"
May 7th, 2015 at 10:30:21 AM
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Ayecarumba,
Of course, with my single €5 roulette wager, there wasn't much chance of a big win to interest the tax guys. I don't know the wager limits for their blackjack game, and I essentially never look at maximum wagers, since they have never impacted me. The roulette table had a €5 minimum.
Crowded? When I was there, I saw a cashier/greeter who checked passports on entry and provided a no-fee entry receipt, a dealer at the roulette table, some unstaffed blackjack tables, one guy wandering around who looked like either a supervisor or an idle dealer, and no players at all other than me. As I left, two guys came in and started looking at the bank of machines. Hopefully, there are days/times when business is better than I saw it on a Sunday afternoon.
I did not ask about currency exchange at the casino. I had some Euros that I was going to need to exchange for dollars, but I didn't want to get rid of them before I got out of the country -- too much possibility that I might see something to buy and have to exchange money back again. I just used a total of €7 for my chip purchases and left.
When I got to Atlanta, the currency exchange booth in the airport offered an exchange rate of fewer dollars than the Euros submitted, with their fee to be collected after that! I told them no thanks. My phone app told me that the current no-fee exchange rate should have been $1.12 per Euro. The only thing positive I can say about that place was that they would have been willing to accept €1 and €2 coins. I waited until I got home and exchanged the bills at my bank with a 6% or 7% fee, but they weren't interested in any of the coins I still had.
Of course, with my single €5 roulette wager, there wasn't much chance of a big win to interest the tax guys. I don't know the wager limits for their blackjack game, and I essentially never look at maximum wagers, since they have never impacted me. The roulette table had a €5 minimum.
Crowded? When I was there, I saw a cashier/greeter who checked passports on entry and provided a no-fee entry receipt, a dealer at the roulette table, some unstaffed blackjack tables, one guy wandering around who looked like either a supervisor or an idle dealer, and no players at all other than me. As I left, two guys came in and started looking at the bank of machines. Hopefully, there are days/times when business is better than I saw it on a Sunday afternoon.
I did not ask about currency exchange at the casino. I had some Euros that I was going to need to exchange for dollars, but I didn't want to get rid of them before I got out of the country -- too much possibility that I might see something to buy and have to exchange money back again. I just used a total of €7 for my chip purchases and left.
When I got to Atlanta, the currency exchange booth in the airport offered an exchange rate of fewer dollars than the Euros submitted, with their fee to be collected after that! I told them no thanks. My phone app told me that the current no-fee exchange rate should have been $1.12 per Euro. The only thing positive I can say about that place was that they would have been willing to accept €1 and €2 coins. I waited until I got home and exchanged the bills at my bank with a 6% or 7% fee, but they weren't interested in any of the coins I still had.
May 7th, 2015 at 10:41:14 AM
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Quote: JoemanI think I remember hearing that Holland is part of the Netherlands, but the Netherlands consist of more than just Holland. Similar to how "England" and "United Kingdom" are sometimes used interchangeably even though the UK consists of more than just England (Scotland, N. Ireland, & Wales). I'm sure there is more to it, so feel free to correct/expound)
That is correct. The Kingdom of the Netherlands is first divided between the European country and the associated Caribbean islands. European Netherlands is divided into 12 districts, two of which are known as North Holland and South Holland. I suspect that those were combined at one time. Our guide only acknowledged that there is a district of "Holland" and that Amsterdam is located there. I guess that "Amsterdam, Holland" and "Amsterdam, Netherlands" are both correct, if you disregard the issue of North/South.
May 7th, 2015 at 5:16:33 PM
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Keep the posts coming! Just wanted to say I'm still following this thread. I collected 50+ chips on my 8.5 days cross country trip from CA to VA last month but I have nothing that hasn't already been posted.
I CD-ROM.
May 7th, 2015 at 6:32:08 PM
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Quote: KonbuKeep the posts coming!
I'm afraid that my well has run dry again after just two new chip postings. If his trip is still going as announced, I suspect that PokerGrinder will be back to show us a new chip tomorrow.
May 7th, 2015 at 9:35:22 PM
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Do you have a display for your collection Konbu?Quote: KonbuKeep the posts coming! Just wanted to say I'm still following this thread. I collected 50+ chips on my 8.5 days cross country trip from CA to VA last month but I have nothing that hasn't already been posted.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - Leonardo da Vinci
May 7th, 2015 at 10:34:39 PM
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Caught up to this for the year...
This is way too late, but what Big Ten alum doesn't hate Michigan (other than Michigan of course)...lol
Also late, but fortunately wezvidz hit before going to Vegas. I also hit "big" for me right before I went to Vegas (~3/4ths of a quarter royal, biggest win ever). The luck definitely didn't continue for me in Vegas either. :(
Quote: rdw4potusI'm a Minnesota alum, so I can't really claim to be a Buckeye fan:-) But, I'm a Wolverine anti-fan. I thought Clarett was a great player, and I was intrigued by his take on success (and I thought it was applicable to gambling).
This is way too late, but what Big Ten alum doesn't hate Michigan (other than Michigan of course)...lol
Also late, but fortunately wezvidz hit before going to Vegas. I also hit "big" for me right before I went to Vegas (~3/4ths of a quarter royal, biggest win ever). The luck definitely didn't continue for me in Vegas either. :(
May 8th, 2015 at 5:25:48 AM
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Quote: DocI'm afraid that my well has run dry again after just two new chip postings. If his trip is still going as announced, I suspect that PokerGrinder will be back to show us a new chip tomorrow.
Just got home Doc going to crash for about 12 hours as I haven't slept in 36 hours. Chip of the day most likely later if not I promise one tomorrow.
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
May 8th, 2015 at 1:00:11 PM
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Decent trip visited 24 casinos (all chips have already been posted) after everything I came away with all my chips and expenses paid for while winning $5 on the trip. I say that is a success most trips the gambling gets me! I made an executive decision for my collection that I will now get a $5 chip if the casino only has tokens as $1 chips since I really hate the tokens. I have about 10 tokens previously. So I ended up with a $5 Prairie's Edge Casino chip since they have recently closed their poker room and destroyed their one dollar chip, instead using tokens for table games. Also in case anybody is thinking of heading to Casino White Cloud in Kansas they no longer have live table games but instead electronic tables. The Cashier was nice enough to sell a chip from the vault though.
I overestimated how much I could handle for this trip.
Day 1 - 693 miles driven and 9 casinos
Day 2 - Fun day
Day 3 - 471 miles driven 8 casinos
Day 4 - 1044 miles 7 casinos (this was way too much for one day with play in each casino it took 26 hours, yes I am nuts)
I overestimated how much I could handle for this trip.
Day 1 - 693 miles driven and 9 casinos
Day 2 - Fun day
Day 3 - 471 miles driven 8 casinos
Day 4 - 1044 miles 7 casinos (this was way too much for one day with play in each casino it took 26 hours, yes I am nuts)
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
May 8th, 2015 at 1:03:29 PM
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The two adjacent colors edge insert (the light blue "rectangle" inside of the two dark blue "right triangles", strikes me as unique for a Paulson H&C. Have there been other chips with this feature, or is it just the Carolina color palette catching my attention?
That is actually really funny, never noticed the Tar Heel colors.
Also great posts Doc really enjoy your write ups
That is actually really funny, never noticed the Tar Heel colors.
Also great posts Doc really enjoy your write ups
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
May 8th, 2015 at 5:49:54 PM
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Quote: AyecarumbaDo you have a display for your collection Konbu?
No my chips are all in one bag, with a separate bag of about 20 some 30 pairs of dice. I don't have any room/space....
I CD-ROM.
May 8th, 2015 at 9:38:30 PM
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State: Wyoming
City: Riverton
Casino: Wind River
New chip of the day, thank you doc for the awesome posts while I was away. Ayecarumba you will like this one as it fits into our Tar Heel colored chips. This is a new state for this thread which is cool after this many years. I visited the Wind River Casino February, 2014 on my way down to Las Vegas. Wind River is a Indian Casino owned by the Northern Arapaho Tribe. The Casino has a nice hotel which I stayed at. I can't seem to find an opening date but on their website they say they opened as a bingo hall around 20 years ago and since have become a fully operating casino. The casino has over 750 slot machines and 10 table games including BJ, DD, Roulette, Three card poker as well as Texas Holdem.
The Casino has a really good restaurant where I believe everything is made in house. I don't have very fond memories of the casino mostly cause they took all my money but it was a nice place with good dealers.
The chip is a white Paulson Hat and Cane with three inserts around edge (dark blue, light blue, dark blue). The centre inlay is blue with a white middle with the casino name and city on it. The reverse side of the chip has a white centre inlay with the same black writing and it looks like a bull skull inside of a dream-catcher.
City: Riverton
Casino: Wind River
New chip of the day, thank you doc for the awesome posts while I was away. Ayecarumba you will like this one as it fits into our Tar Heel colored chips. This is a new state for this thread which is cool after this many years. I visited the Wind River Casino February, 2014 on my way down to Las Vegas. Wind River is a Indian Casino owned by the Northern Arapaho Tribe. The Casino has a nice hotel which I stayed at. I can't seem to find an opening date but on their website they say they opened as a bingo hall around 20 years ago and since have become a fully operating casino. The casino has over 750 slot machines and 10 table games including BJ, DD, Roulette, Three card poker as well as Texas Holdem.
The Casino has a really good restaurant where I believe everything is made in house. I don't have very fond memories of the casino mostly cause they took all my money but it was a nice place with good dealers.
The chip is a white Paulson Hat and Cane with three inserts around edge (dark blue, light blue, dark blue). The centre inlay is blue with a white middle with the casino name and city on it. The reverse side of the chip has a white centre inlay with the same black writing and it looks like a bull skull inside of a dream-catcher.
Last edited by: PokerGrinder on May 8, 2016
You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once. — Amarillo Slim Preston
