Adventures in casino collecting

22 June 2013

By John Marchel

There are many “treasured” items that can be collected when visiting a casino. The best, of course, are casino chips. It’s nice to collect as many of these as possible. The reason is that the casino will always buy them back from you anytime you like, which is very nice of them.

You can also keep a chip and develop a collection of them from every casino you visit. You could also expand your collection by trying to collect a chip from every casino, for example, in Las Vegas or Atlantic City or in California. Today there are over 900 casinos operating in the U.S. That would be quite an accomplishment if your collection had that many chips in it.

Besides chips, you could collect dice, stir sticks, or even playing cards. Most of these items are inexpensive and can also be obtained by just asking a pit boss or ask for a deck when you sign up for a players-rating card at the rewards desk. Owning a deck of cards that was played in a specific casino would be a nice addition to your collection or it might make a great gift for someone back home. That deck of cards or set of dice could have won a great deal of chips for someone previously. Those small collectable items might also bring some fond memories of a great visit by you as time goes by.

Beside those items mentioned above, there are individuals today who collect casino hotel room keys, pens, ashtrays and even casino napkins. On your next visit to a casino, look around and maybe you might find a new task to do when you take a little break from gaming.

Bet - Did You Know

• Ever wonder why dollar chips are white and 5-dollar ones are red? In 1832, Edward Pendleton opened a gambling house called the Palace of Fortune on Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington DC. Those were the colors he used for his chips and they remain the same colors used by card rooms and casinos to this day.

• The gambling chips used in European counties are called “jetons” and most of the chips come in different colors and sizes depending on the denomination.

• Golden Goose Casino in Las Vegas opened 1975 and closed in 1980. The casino was mostly a slot house for most of its 5 years; it did have a license for a single blackjack table for a few months in 1976 to early 1977. When one of its $5 chips showed up in the mid 1990s, it went for over $3,000 at auction. To date, it remains a one of a kind and the new owner has turned down close to five figures for the chip.

• The Wynn Las Vegas and the Bellagio have $100,000 denomination chips, while Caesars Palace, MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay have chips that have a top value of $25,000.

• The Mughal emperor Babar (1483-1530), of India, enjoyed card playing so much he often give hand painted card packs as gifts to his subjects. A pack of cards consisted of ninety-six cards with eight suits of twelve cards each. They are generally circular and made of ivory, tortoise shell, thin wood or hard board material.

• The latest edition of The Slot Card Price Guide lists 12,400 different slot player cards and their values. Cost of the 280 8x11 page coil-bound guide book is $45.