2010
03.17

Casino staff frequently reference chips as "cheques," which has its origins in France. In reality, there’s a difference between a cheque and a chip. A cheque is a chip with a denomination printed on it and is forever worth the value of the imprinted value. Chips, however, don’t have values imprinted on them and any color can be worth any amount as determined by the casino. For instance, at a poker tournament, the croupier may value white chips as one dollar and blue chips as $10; while, in a roulette game, the croupier might define white chips as 25 cents and blue chips at $2. A different example, the cheap red, white, and blue poker chips you buy at the department store for your Friday-night poker game are referred to as "chips" due to the fact that they don’t have denominations imprinted on them.

When you put your cash down and hear the dealer say, "Cheque change only," he’s simply informing the boxman that a new player wants to exchange cash for chips or more correctly cheques, and that the money sitting on the table isn’t in play. Money plays in many casinos, so if you put a 5 dollar bill on the Pass Line just prior to the shooter rolls the dice and the dealer does not exchange your cash for chips, your cash is "live" and "in play."

Technically, in actual craps games, we gamble with with cheques, and not chips. Occasionally, a player will walk up to the the table, put down a 100 dollar cheque, and say to the dealer, "Cheque change." It’s a blast to pretend to be an amateur and ask the dealer, "Hey, I’m a beginner to this game, what is a cheque?" Generally, their comical answers will entertain you.