What is a Chip? Understanding Casino Chips & Their Real Money Conversion Value

What is a chip? Have you seen at traditional casinos, online gambling websites or in movies like ”The Gambler”, people use colorful round tokens to place bets? Let’s explore the history, origins, and why casinos use them instead of cash for betting.

What is a chip?

What is money in a casino called? The answer is Casino chips or also known as tokens/ checks/ cheques which are the cards players use to place bets. Casino chips are used instead of cash or jewels at the casino. You can buy these chips at the counter, and after playing and winning bets, you can exchange these chips for cash. Most casinos around the world now prefer to use chips as a form of betting. This can easily be seen in movies about gambling from East to West.

Watch the best gambling movies of the era here!

History of casino chips

Interestingly, although betting and gambling have a history of thousands of years, casino chips only appeared in the 1880s. Before that, money, pieces of gold, bones, skins, paper, salt, etc. were used for betting. As gambling technology developed, casino owners realized that each gaming table was a giant money printing machine. At this point, they began to optimize every small detail to ensure that the operational profit margin was the highest. Clay chips were first introduced. To date, the technology of casino chips has seen significant improvements with countless modern materials. The Poker chips circulating in international casinos today do not weigh more than 10 grams. It has truly created a significant boost in the cash flow within casinos. It is estimated that just using chips instead of cash for betting has optimized the betting industry by over 12 billion USD per year.

What are Poker chips?

Poker chips are gambling chips used for betting in how to play Poker. They have a value like money in a casino and you can only use them as the sole means of betting instead of cash or jewels. In casinos, Poker chips are the best-selling because many people prefer this game. Currently, it is easy to see that the best-selling casino chip sets are definitely for Poker games. The denominations of Poker chips are also very diverse, depending on the color and material, they have different prices. Ensuring that whether a novice player or a true high roller, all types of Poker chips can “handle” it.

Why do casinos use chips as a means of betting?

Chips/casino chips are a solution that helps casinos solve quite a few problems such as:

Poker chips enhance security

Imagine you are a professional gambler who often bets big. Now, think about carrying a stack of cash into the casino and sitting down to place bets.
You would definitely become the center of attention for many people, including professional scammers and pickpockets.

Converting to chips allows you to play confidently without worrying about this issue. In the past, players could use cash, jewels, or valuable metals to bet.
However, bookmakers had to spend extra time checking whether the items were real or fake. Not to mention the need to verify whether the dealer was honest or not.
Those are the reasons why you will not find any casino that agrees to this form of betting anymore.

Convenient poker chips

Bringing chips to the betting tables is definitely tidier than carrying a stack of cash. Each chip is like a coin and weighs no more than 10 grams.
This allows players to sometimes convert a huge amount of money while still feeling very light when gambling.

The entire casino system has a common chip conversion system. This makes the process of paying out, returning excess chips, exchanging, etc., happen faster and smoother. This will save time and costs for both the casino and the players.

Casino chips easily trap players’ psychology

In addition to the physical conveniences, chips also hold significant value in “trapping” players’ psychology. Because players will find it very difficult to estimate the real value of a casino chip compared to cash.
“Players will always underestimate the value of chips at the casino compared to their actual worth,” said Laurrent Johnson, a casino business expert in Las Vegas.

For many players who care about their image, chips are an effective tool to demonstrate their status. At the betting table, if they are impressed by a beautiful lady, they push a stack of chips to show their class.
Winning big on a lucky day, declaring to cover the bets for the entire table at that moment with chips, etc. All thoughts, emotions, and psychological tendencies of all types of gamblers are well understood by casinos.
Therefore, every detail, no matter how small, that casinos arrange is optimized for operations and maximizing profits. You can refer back to the article 15+ secrets about Casinos & bookmakers do not want you to know to see the meticulous calculations of casino owners.

The most common casino chip materials

Depending on the scale, reputation, and potential of the bookmaker, we have 4 types of materials to make betting chips.

Plastic Casino Chips

This can be considered the most basic and cheapest type of chip. You can easily buy this type at convenience stores or specialized casino supply shops.
They are plain, dull, have little or no patterns, and usually come in just one color. The feeling of holding them is no different from holding a bottle cap or a low-value coin.

Casino chips made from clay composite

For groups that often organize home gambling, this clay composite chip is very popular. They have a quite eye-catching design with various themes such as: dice, diamonds, playing cards, or precious metals, etc. The core inside is made of metal, while the outside is composed of clay composite, giving a fairly good feel. However, clay can be quite slippery and difficult to stack high.

Poker chips made from ceramic

This is a high-end material that provides a very good experience for handling and tossing chips. Their craftsmanship value is also quite high; with this type of chip, your betting experience is at a completely different level. Ceramic chips in casinos are very durable, have high hardness, and are difficult to scratch or wear out over time. The patterns and decorative paint are also extremely eye-catching and professional. Many large casinos are currently using this type of chip.

Casino chips made from full clay

This type of clay chip is the highest quality, most expensive, and has the best craftsmanship in the world of chips. They are a very suitable material to meet the weight requirement, weighing only 8 – 10 grams. Each chip is directly molded with a separate mold, and the paint and patterns are also stamped together. After that, they go through more than 6 different blowing processes to achieve the most aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly surface for players. Many limited edition chips with unique patterns are auctioned on eBay for up to $100,000 per chip (over 2 billion for a tiny card).

Denominations of casino chips

To easily standardize the casino industry, the Bellagio standard was established to unify the value of chips in Europe as follows:

In the case of casino chips without stripes, the conventional values are as follows:

Summary

Just the use of Poker Chips as a payment method is enough to make us marvel at the sophistication of the bookmakers. Indeed, besides providing entertainment services, the way they manage every detail is truly aimed at maximizing profits. Currently, cryptocurrencies are on the rise; who knows, in the future, we might see a renewal from the current bookmakers. Learn more about what a Dealer is? Everything about the profession of dealing cards in casinos, salary, and the secrets behind it.