Casinos and poker games all over the world use chips as their currency. There are always a lot of chips in a real life casino. The sound they create when they hit each other is as classic as the neon signs along the Las Vegas Strip.
Those small round chips you see floating around the casino floor are where all that money in Vegas begins. Why then do gambling establishments prefer chips to cash? At first glance, it could seem less complicated to deal with actual money. There wouldn’t be any need to constantly convert currency. To convert casino chips into cash, the casino wouldn’t need to staff any additional teller windows. Surely it would make things simpler to manage.
The usage of chips in casinos is grounded in more than merely custom, though. Allow me to take a peek.
- The Psyche
Gamblers feel less emotionally invested in their money when using chips instead of cash, which is why casinos favor them. Since you’re only betting chips, it’s a little less of a risk for you to make a significant wager. You intuitively understand the significance of those chips. The lack of physical currency removes some of the fear of loss, allowing you to take somewhat greater chances.
It’s a mental game, basically. This is another way of looking at it. In a game of blackjack, if you only had cash and wanted to wager $500, you’d have to sit there and count out the money. A little wad of crisp, new $100 bills or twenty-five $20 bills. It’s right in front of your eyes, and it’s quite genuine. It allows the process to fully absorb your attention.
However, if you prefer to use chips, you need only place a single purple chip on the felt. Not much seems to be there. The chip is all alone in the middle of a sea of green felt. In an instant, all of your hard-earned cash might vanish.
Second, safety
Casinos’ use of chips increases safety. Casinos have custody of the chips and can employ various strategies to deter and catch would-be crooks. A few years ago, an armed robber left his motorcycle parked in the Bellagio’s valet area before running inside to steal $1.5 million in chips from a craps table.
The Bellagio found that a significant amount of the thief’s loot was comprised of chips with a value of $25,000. A few days later, it was widely reported that the Bellagio would soon stop selling its current $25,000 chips. After the casino’s deadline, those chips would be worthless.
The thief found himself in the unenviable position of needing to quickly cash in a large number of high-value chips. The poker community at TwoPlusTwo.com eventually uncovered his attempt to resell his chips. Police were able to apprehend the thief once the “buyer” reported the attempted transaction.
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips are embedded in some gambling chips. This makes it simple to monitor high-value chips and spot any suspicious activity. The casino will not accidentally pay out a large sum of counterfeit chips if someone comes in with a large number of counterfeits that have been made with a high level of sophistication.
If a large number of RFID-enabled chips are stolen, the casino may be able to pinpoint which chips were taken. Once the chips have been removed from circulation, the stolen chips are rendered useless. Meanwhile, there is zero spillover to any other chips.
- Ease of Use
It’s more convenient to utilize chips instead of bills in casinos. It would be a pain to have to wait for players to fumble about with dollar dollars for every wager, especially in games that go quickly. Bills are easily creased, don’t stack neatly, are a pain to keep tabs on, and require a lot of storage space.
The situation would be further complicated by high stakes gaming. To put this in perspective, picture yourself trying to play a game of $4,000/$8,000 fixed limit Holdem with a stack of $100 notes. The idea is certain to fail. Everyone benefits from the use of chips.
Fourth, information This final element is pertinent solely to casinos that implement RFID-enabled chip technology.
While most casinos have not yet implemented RFID technology on all of their chips, this is a direction that the industry appears to be moving towards. Using RFID-enabled chips exclusively at a casino would allow for a massive amount of data collection.
Casinos can monitor the flow of chips throughout the establishment, detect errors made by dealers, and prevent players from adding chips after the betting has ended by using radio frequency identification chips. This data can be used by casinos to better manage their finances, spot emerging trends, and protect themselves from criminals.
Someday, players’ skill levels could be tracked in casinos by RFID chips. The data might be used by casinos to give gamers the perks they truly deserve. They might also identify the cheaters and suggest they play elsewhere.