Everything But The Weed

Approved by:
Linda Maze, a Wedding photography Gainesville FL in Gainesville Florida

The uses of poker chips extend outside of the gambling rooms of casinos. But certainly, poker chips are widely used within casinos when we consider number and value, however, there are at least two other applications for poker chips.

Individuals purchase poker chips for use as gambling money at home. These people are keen poker players and play frequently with friends and acquaintances. Chip manufacturers look at this home market as a specific stand-alone segment with its own specific needs. They design products specifically to meet the requirements of home users. For instance, poker chips for home use are usually lower cost items made from plastic rather than more expensive materials such as clay or ceramic. Also, manufacturers generally decorate poker chips destined for the home market with colors, motifs and designs specifically reserved for that segment.  For a home poker player, custom poker chips are a good option when compared to standard poker chips.

Some individuals buy poker chips to add them in their collection. Some people collect casino chips as they would coins. This hobby forms part of the broader specialist pursuit known as numismatics but is focused on collecting exonumia, being tokens, medals and similarly small decorative items that resemble, and may sometimes be used as, money but are not intended to be used as legal tender. Some poker and other gambling chips attract high values of one hundred thousand dollars or even more. They trade actively through a variety of channels, including online on platforms like eBay.

Casinos also have custom designed chip sets stamped with the name of the casino for those who love to collect them. These sets are typically marketed as a premium item and come contained in a dedicated box or carry-case. It may surprise some people that gambling chip collecting is very popular that its aficionados supported the formation of the Casino Chips & Gaming Tokens Collectors Club in 1988. This club is based in Las Vegas, Nevada and set-up as an educational, not-for-profit tax-exempt organization devoted to documenting and preserving gaming history, including the varied uses of poker chips.