Poker Chip

Casino poker chips are special tokens representing a fixed amount of money. In the gaming industry they are more generally referred to as Checks or Cheques; the difference being that a 'chip' caries no value, such as those used for roulette vs. a 'cheque' which carries a specific value and can be cashed in for money.

The vast majorities of authentic casino chips are 'clay' chips but can be more accurately described as compression molded chips. Contrary to popular belief no gaming chip going as far back as the 1950s have been 100% clay. Modern clay chips are a composition of materials more durable than clay alone. At least some percentage of the chips is of an earthen material such as sand, chalk and or clay similar to that found in cat litter. The process used to make these chips is a trade secret, very expensive, time consuming and varies slightly by manufacturer. Additionally, the edge spots or inserts, as they are sometimes called, are not painted on as they can sometimes appear to be. In fact they are areas where the clay has been punched out of the chip and then replaced by hand with a new piece of clay of an alternate color; it would then be at this point the chip is placed under extreme pressure and heat, approximately 10,000 psi 70 MPa at 300 °F 150 °C , hence the term compression molded Chips .

The printed graphics on clay chips is called an inlay. Inlays are typically made of paper and are then covered with a thin film of plastic which is applied to the chip prior to the compression molding process. During the molding process the inlay becomes permanently affixed to the chip and cannot be removed from the chip without destroying it.

Ceramic chips such as those made by ChipCo International were introduced in the mid 1980s as an alternative to clay chips and are still very common in casinos as well as being readily available to the home market. Ceramic chips are often referred to as clay or clay composite but they are in fact solid white, injection molded, ceramic disks, which are simply printed on.

Bud Jones are an alternate style of chip and are one of the very few injection molded plastic chips used in casinos. They are produced by Gaming Products International and are not produced for the home market.

The chips used in American casinos rarely weigh more than 10 grams and are usually between 8.5 and 10 g. There is no official weight however and some, particularly coin-inlaid chips, can weigh more. The chips sold for home use vary substantially more, sometimes weighing as much as 13.5 g, depending on manufacturer and construction.

Common designs for home use depict the six faces of a die or the suit symbols around the edge on the face of the chip. They are typically manufactured with injection molding technology using ABS plastic. Some chips are molded around a small metal disc, called a slug, for weight.

European chips often come in Mother of Pearl. The higher value chips are often shaped like plaques.

Colors

Typically colors found in home sets include red, white, blue and sometimes black; however, more recently a wide assortment of colors have become readily available, particularly in lower-quality ABS type chips.

$2.50 chips are almost exclusively used for blackjack tables, since a natural a 21 on the first two cards dealt to a player typically pays 3:2 and most wagers are in increments of $5. However, the Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey has used pink chips in $7.50-$15 and $10-$20 poker games. Low-denomination yellow chips can vary in value: $20 by statute in Atlantic City and Illinois which, oddly, also uses mustard yellow $0.50 chips ; $5 at most Southern California poker rooms; $2 at Foxwoods' poker room in Ledyard, Connecticut and at Casino del Sol in Tucson, Arizona; and $0.50 at Potawatomi Casino in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Blue chips are occasionally used for $10, most notably by statute in Atlantic City. In Las Vegas and California, most casinos use blue or white for $1 chips.

Chips are commonly available in $1000 denominations, depending on the wagering limits of the casino in question. Such chips are often yellow or orange and of a large size. Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and other areas, which permit high wagers typically, have chips available in $5000, $10000, $25000, and higher denominations; the colors for these vary widely.

Each casino has a unique set of chips, even if the casino is part of a larger company. This distinguishes a casino's chips from others, since each chip and token on the gaming floor has to be backed up with the appropriate amount of cash. In addition, with the exception of Nevada, casinos are not permitted to honor another casino's chips.

The security features of casino chips are numerous. Artwork is of a very high resolution or of photographic quality. Custom color combinations on the chip edge spots are usually distinctive to a particular casino. Certain chips incorporate RFID technology, such as those at the new Wynn Casino in Las Vegas.

Counterfeit chips are rare. High levels of surveillance, along with staff familiarity with chip design and coloring, make passing fake chips difficult. Casinos, though, are prepared for this situation. According to one report, a Canadian casino removed all chips from the gaming floor and replaced them with new sets with alternative markings, which resulted in the arrest of the attempted counterfeiters.

Casino chips used in tournaments are usually much cheaper and much simpler in design. Because the chips have no cash value, usually chips are designed with a single color usually differing in shade or tone from the version on the casino floor, a smaller diameter, and a basic mark on the interior to distinguish denominations; however, at certain events such as the World Series of Poker or other televised poker , chips approach quality levels of chips on the floor.

Casino Keno

Playing Keno

Keno is usually played in Casino lounges specifically allocated for the game, but there are so called 'Keno runners' who will collect your ticket and deliver the winnings if the player wants to play from outside the lounge area. There are many television monitors spread all over the Casino halls to keep players informed of the winning numbers.
There is also the video version of Keno. These are slots-like coin operated machines. It plays using the same principle with similar rules of the regular Keno, but you get the results much faster.
To play Keno, you select a minimum of 4 but no more than 10 numbers between 1 and 80. Each selection is called a 'Spot', so if you select 10 numbers you are playing a 10 Spot game.
Keno tickets are located at tables throughout the Casino and in the Casino's Keno lounge. The Casino provides a 'Keno crayon' for this purpose.

Simply mark a blank Keno ticket with the numbers of your selection. Then present your ticket to the Keno desk with your wager and the clerk will give you a duplicate ticket. In a few minutes, twenty numbered Keno balls will be drawn at random from a barrel containing 80 numbered balls, and if enough of your selected numbers are drawn, you are a winner. The results are displayed on screens, called Keno boards, throughout the Casino.
Minimum bets can be as low as 5 cents, although some Casinos only accept bets of $1 or more. The house's Keno brochures give you information about payoffs and various tickets you can play.
The amount of money you win is dependent upon the type of ticket you play and the number of 'spots' caught. You may play as many tickets as you wish. You could win as much as $50,000 on a $1 wager in some Casinos.

The round of a Keno game is called a Keno race. In many Casinos, 'multi-race' Keno is featured, where you can play a number of consecutive Keno races at one time.
The house advantage on Keno varies according to the Keno game played. It is always around 30% or more.

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Online casinos, also known as virtual casinos or Internet casinos are online versions of traditional brick and mortar casinos. Online casinos enable gamblers to play and wager on casino games through the Internet.

Online casinos generally offer odds and payback percentages that are comparable to land-based casinos. Some online casinos claim higher payback percentages for slot machine games, and some publish payout percentage audits on their websites. Assuming that the online casino is using an appropriately programmed random number generator, table games like blackjack have an established house edge. The payout percentage for these games is established by the rules of the game.

Online casinos can be divided into two groups based on their interface: web-based and download-only casinos. Some casinos offer both interfaces.

Some casinos offer 'Live gaming', either exclusively, or as part of a wider online casino offering. In live online casinos, popular casino games such as roulette and blackjack are dealt by real dealers in casino studios, in an attempt to convey more of the atmosphere of a physical casino. Player actions including chat such as 'hit' in the game of blackjack may be transmitted to the dealer; in some online casinos more than one player may 'sit' at a particular 'seat' on the table, and in this case there is no interactivity between player and dealer. The question of which player s requested the extra card that the dealer dealt and which chose to 'stand' will be handled by the software. It is usual for players to be able to observe a video feed of the action, and equally common for players to opt to turn it off, if they lack the bandwidth - as the cards are read by OCR and other technology, the video feed is only ever a visual cue.

Web-based online casinos

Web-based online casinos are websites where users may play casino games without downloading software to the local computer. Games are mainly represented in the browser plug-ins Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Shockwave, or Java and require browser support for these plug-in. In addition, bandwidth is needed since all graphics, sounds and animations are loaded through the web via the plug-in. Some online casinos also allow game play through a plain HTML interface. Apple devices such as IPod, IPad and IPhone cannot play Flash games as the technology is not supported.

Download-based online casinos

Download-based online casinos require the download of the software client in order to play and wager on the casino games offered. The online casino software connects to the casino service provider and handles contact without browser support. Download-based online casinos generally run faster than web-based online casinos since the graphics and sound programs are located within the software client, rather than having to be loaded from the Internet. On the other hand, the initial download and installation of a download-based online casino client does take time. As with any download from the Internet, the risk of the program containing malware does exist. Still the graphics and sounds at download-based online casinos are most of the time much better than those at web-based online casinos.