I do a decent amount of traveling and when I do I usually find a new casino or card room to check out and play at. I have also been working on a chip collection the last several years and nearing a hundred. I usually just pocket a $1 chip at some point during my session but I found myself in an unusual and unfamiliar situation recently.

I stopped at a card room on my way home from Yosemite. It was small and had no games running. The table for table games was also closed. I was told there was a tournament in about 2 hours but I had no intention of waiting that long. With nothing available to play I held out a $1 bill and asked for a $1 chip. The older man, a bit confused, asked what I wanted it for and I said that I collect them. He asked why he would do that then stated that the chips cost more than $1 to replace and refused to sell me one.

Am I out of line for asking for a souvenir chip? Is the old man out of line by refusing me service? What are you're opinions on this?

Never heard such nonsense

Give him $2 and ask for one chip.

Old man was out of line, he should have just sold you the chip. It's not as if you wanted an entire rack of 100 chips to take out of their circulation.

And the chip obviously costs way less than $1 for the casino to purchase.

If somebody comes on here and confirms that chips cost more than $1 each I'm going to be incredibly surprised. And even if they cost $1.50 (lol, no) he's a first class nit not to sell you a single chip.

Yeah, that was my first thought was where was this guy getting chips that are $1+ each? Maybe if he's buying 10 at a time but that's dumb.

On a slightly different note would it be acceptable to walk into a place buy a chip then leave without playing anything?

Not only would it be acceptable in 'Casino Howard Beale' I'd pray for ppl to buy ALL of my chips. I wouldn't even care if a game never ran, just come in and buy all of the chips.

Shoulda asked if you could by a $100 chip for what it cost the casino

I have read elsewhere that most casino chips cost more than a dollar to manufacture.

However, I still think it was rude that the guy did this, and doubt you will run into this problem very often.

Well he's just cost his bosses $1. For a casino business, that is a ropable offence.

From an article on the Internet:

Quote:

Identifying an authentic casino chip:

1. Find a chip in the real weight range (8.5 to 10 grams)
2. Buy from a reputable dealer
3. Plan on paying $1.00 to $1.50 per chip
4. Ask what Las Vegas casinos the manufacturer makes chips for

It is very likely the chips cost at least $1 each.

I am a long time chip collector and it was in fact that hobby that led me to the gaming business. The person who gave me my first dealing job was someone I knew from the hobby ... he is also someone who was very involved with the casinos chip program.

While it may seem unlikely to you that the casino pays more for a chip than you pay for your home set .... that is because casinos have other concerns.

Just the design of the chip requires more effort than your home set. After all you probably paid very little attention to gaming requirements, and making sure that the chips were clearly distinguishable by surveillance. And you did not have to spend any money on getting your chips approved by a regulatory body.

But most importantly .... casinos pay extra for the production of their chips because they are buying things which you are not. When you buy a set of chips even from one of the legitimate producers (who must be licensed by the applicable regulatory body) you are buying from chips made available to the generakl public. No effort is made to make sure that your color combinations/edge spot design is at all distinguishable from others. You are given access to colors edge spot designs which are made available to the general public. The casino on the other is buying color combinations/ edge spot combinations/and designs that are specifically reserved for them so that they are not faced with the problem of someone buying chips with identical colors/edgespot designs and then misixing them into stacks . Some casinos have their own chip molds (that is the design along the outside of the chip pressed into the chip). Many casinos have secuirty features even on their $1 chips. These include microprinting and or designs inked onto the chip with ink that is only visible under a black light.

I'm not saying a casino couldn't pay less than $1 for a chip .... just that its not uncommon for the cost to be more than $1. Keep in mind smaller casinos which need fewer chips are going to have higher costs than the larger casino which can get the benefit of a larger order.

No you weren;t out of line to ask to buy a chip. But they weren;t out of line to say no. Perhaps you should have asked to buy a $5 chip. That would generate profit for the casino

To get my Binion's chip, I had to buy from the cage. I decided to buy $20, a stack in a rack, and then picked out the cleanest ones to bring home (I gift a few to friends). The others were cashed back out at the cage a few minutes later.

There may be a guideline about what kind of increments to sell? I'm not ready to declare the employee the bad guy. Is it possible he's just following company guidelines, and perhaps was already warned/written up for breaking policy?

Selling only one chip makes it clear the player has no intention whatsoever to play. Doesn't fit the business concept. You could get people going from casino to casino, buying just one chip.

they have to account for all their chips. and it doesnt do them any good for you to take them home. like said buy a stack and then cash some back in you dont want.

From europe:

our 1€ chips are different from 'normal' chips. they are equvivalent of fancy version of plastic chips sold for 25 usd for a set.

When I asked for a reason from a dealer I was given (in a confident manner) answer that regular chips cost more than 1€. Casino felt that players would buy the 1€ chips and use them in home games. I do believe such thing might happen..

I would buy the 1€ casino chips and use them at home games even if I could get nice chips with money value for 1€ at the price of 0,9 €/ chip. (as I could sell them back to casino).

still .. refusing to sell the chips was bonkers and just rude.. as ray put it.. easy workaround is to buy a stack and cash rest back.

selling one chip and accepting the nominal cost is a marginal cost compared to customer voicing a bad opinion of said casino/chain.

Taking chips home without the intent of returning them can even be seen as a form of theft, if it's not a profitable transaction for the casino. But at the same time the casino gets advertisement for a low cost, as the chips will be seen outside their facilities. Difficult to see where the balance goes.

The silent agreement is that if you play with the cips, and hence add revenue for the casino, you may take some with you. And if you show the chips to others, it's nicer to have some story go with them.

If this is the type place I think it is ... buying a stack at the cage and returning all but one was not an option. The place is small and has a few tables ... and none were running. The cage is probably not even staffed at that point. Thats why he was asking an employee to sell a chip.

The thing is that employee could have been the owner (the answer he gave suggests this). In this situation I would have either asked for a $5 chip (so the sale was profitable), or offered a coulpe extra dollars to the guy. If you the guy is the owner a friendly chat with him can sometimes turn up goodies you didn't expect. I have known collectors who walk into a tiny joint, start chatting with someone about chip collecting and next thing you know they find the guy has boxes of old stuff non collector has ever seen sitting in basement ...... and even if you make a find ... sometimes you get really cool stories .... which is part of the fun of chip collecting.

So the chips actually cost $1+. Now I know why The Orleans fixed up their room but didn't buy new chips to go along w/ it.

Just buy $20 in $1 chips, and then cash in $19. Problem solved, no questions asked.

Looks good. Then they can sell the minimum standard amount. A player could for example get a phone call and not be able to play, he may drop one accidentally, etc. So OP could take the twenty chips, go look at them at a quiet place, pick the best, and head for the cashout with 18-19 chips.

Gotta say that I'd have bet good money that nobody would ever make an OP about how to buy a $1 chip.

I know that as of 2001, the 50 cent chips used in LA definitely cost more than 50 cents for the casino because the LA casino would take 50 cent chips from casinos that were out of business.

Maybe someone in the casino was a chip collector? Or did you really play with a variety of 50 cent chips, with those of defunct casinos blended in? Guess at least the color was the same...

I paid $1.29/chip for my Paulson chips. While they are cheaper when you buy in volume, customizing them will eliminate any discount. However, I cannot imagine any legit casino would object to this. What type of sh-it hole casino would does this?