Collecting Casino Chips - Part one Collecting casino checks, chips and tokens has become the fastest growing area of numismatic related hobbies in the past few years. It's easy, generally inexpensive and interesting. Most people call these chips, but I wanted you to know the difference. A chip is a wheel chip or a poker chip or something that has no value printed on it. For our purposes all chips are lumped together from here on.
Tokens are various composition metal coins used for slot play and some table games.
With the proliferation of casinos across the country it was natural that people would start collecting chips and tokens. I started in a very small way when I was at the MGM Grand in Reno in the 80's and took home a dollar slot token. I was near in Nevada and trying to get a chip for the collection. Wherever you live there are probably casinos, river boats, card rooms, or tribal gambling halls that you and friends might go to. The best way to collect is in person for face value.