Casino personnel frequently reference chips as "cheques," which is of French origin. Technically, there’s a difference between a cheque and a chip. A cheque is a chip with a value printed on it and is forever worth the value of the printed denomination. Chips, on the other hand, do not have values written on them and the value is defined by the casino. For example, at a poker table, the dealer may value white chips as one dollar and blue chips as 10 dollars; at the same time, in a roulette game, the croupier might value white chips as $0.25 and blue chips as two dollars. Another example, the inexpensive red, white, and blue poker chips you purchase at Wal-Mart for your weekly poker game are referred to as "chips" due to the fact that they don’t have values written on them.
When you put your cash down on the table and hear the croupier announce, "Cheque change only," he’s simply telling the boxman that a new competitor wants to exchange cash for chips or more correctly cheques, and that the money sitting on the table is not in play. Cash plays in most casinos, so if you place a 5 dollar bill down on the Pass Line just prior to the shooter tosses the dice and the croupier does not change your money for chips, your cash is "live" and "in play."
Technically, in actual craps games, we wager with with cheques, and not chips. Every now and then, a player will walk up to the the table, drop a $100 cheque, and tell the dealer, "Cheque change." It is amusing to pretend to be a beginner and ask the dealer, "Hey, I am new to this game, what’s a cheque?" Frequently, their wacky answers will amuse you.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
