Atlantic City casinos adopting $25K gambling chips

[clevfan]

Atlantic City casinos adopting $25K gambling chips

By WAYNE PARRY

Associated Press Writer

March 19, 2008

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.

It's enough to pay for a decent car, a wedding, or a year at Rutgers University, with some money left over for beer.

And it fits in the palm of your hand.

Atlantic City's casinos are getting a new gambling chip worth $25,000 for high rollers.

The state Casino Control Commission approved the new top-value chip Wednesday. The gold chip edges the yellow chip, which at $20,000 apiece is now the second-highest chip denomination.

It's noticeably larger than the yellow chip, whose color will be altered somewhat to minimize the chance of a $5,000 mistake if the two get confused, said Dan Heneghan, a spokesman for the casino commission.

Caesars Atlantic City petitioned the commission to approve the higher chip, which it expects will be used at its high-end tables where gamblers can bet up to $50,000 at a time, said Dan Nita, the casino's senior vice president and general manager.

The Caesars chips will feature the company's signature horse and chariot design.

There's no limit on how many of the chips casinos can buy; it's up to them to determine how many are necessary.

Atlantic City casinos now offer chips in the following denominations: $1; $2.50; $5; $10; $20; $25; $100; $500; $1,000; $5,000; $20,000 and $25,000.

But even that's not the limit; some casinos use large metallic markers called plaques that keep track of even larger bets of as much as $100,000 at a time. Alyce Parker, a spokeswoman for Harrah's Entertainment Inc., which operates four casinos here including Caesars, said the casino has been using $50,000 and $100,000 plaques for its top customers for the past 10 years.