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Has anyone ever counterfeited casino chips?

S

SaltyNuts

Platinum Member
I went gambling recently, and it struck me that one way you could make a ton of money would be counterfeiting casino chips. Now, counterfeiting real U.S. money is probably real tough given all the security and countermeasures in the bills, but casino chips are just some dinky plastic things. Surely someone one has tried this before? Seems like it would be easy to launder as well - just bring few in your pocket, play some blackjack which is almost 50/50 odds so you won't lose much over the long run, go cash out all your chips, including the counterfeit ones.

Anyone ever done this?
 
So I walk in with $100 worth of fake $5 chips. Put them down on the table, along with another $100 bill to get more chips. Play blackjack for 20 min or so, lose on average lets say $30. When I'm playing I bet the fake chips every time so that, with turnover, by the end of the game all my $170 is real $5 chips. I go to the window.

I've just made $70, in a few minutes, and had some fun playing blackjack.

What am I missing?
 
I have a friend who is an executive at MGM in Vegas. He's told me a lot of stories of the cheats that got caught. I remember talking about fake chips several years ago and vaguely recall him telling me of their security measures. I remember thinking that it was very difficult to pull off.
 
Only once.

CJ put a stop to that

554
 
SaltyNuts said:
So I walk in with $100 worth of fake $5 chips. Put them down on the table, along with another $100 bill to get more chips. Play blackjack for 20 min or so, lose on average lets say $30. When I'm playing I bet the fake chips every time so that, with turnover, by the end of the game all my $170 is real $5 chips. I go to the window.

I've just made $70, in a few minutes, and had some fun playing blackjack.

What am I missing?
Click to expand...
First of all the video cameras and YES they do have quite a few people watching the Casino`s money....
 
SaltyNuts said:
So I walk in with $100 worth of fake $5 chips. Put them down on the table, along with another $100 bill to get more chips. Play blackjack for 20 min or so, lose on average lets say $30. When I'm playing I bet the fake chips every time so that, with turnover, by the end of the game all my $170 is real $5 chips. I go to the window.

I've just made $70, in a few minutes, and had some fun playing blackjack.

What am I missing?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you're missing because your logic is sound, but I'm completely positive something is missing. There's no way casinos would leave this big of a hole in their business model.
 
MrDudeMan said:
I'm not sure what you're missing because your logic is sound, but I'm completely positive something is missing. There's no way casinos would leave this big of a hole in their business model.
Click to expand...

you could include an rfid reader in the table, or a reader in the chip holder. easier: all you have to do is know how many chips each dealer starts and ends with, they switch out fairly regular.
 
It has been tried and the casinos change chip designs often. They keep an eye on that sort of thing, as well as all types of cheater and card counters. There was a show on TV a while back that showed the various ways they did it and how they eventually were caught.
 
madoka said:
I have a friend who is an executive at MGM in Vegas. He's told me a lot of stories of the cheats that got caught. I remember talking about fake chips several years ago and vaguely recall him telling me of their security measures. I remember thinking that it was very difficult to pull off.
Click to expand...

That memory of yours is amazing.
 
I'd imagine it's probably not worth the risk of going to jail. Would probably not be that hard to do if you can manage to bring a chip home though, and know enough about different plastic compositions so you can match it. Then make a mold out of the one you took and start casting some.

Another thing, nothing stops you from counterfeiting old money that has less security too, it's still legal tender.
 
SaltyNuts said:
So I walk in with $100 worth of fake $5 chips. Put them down on the table, along with another $100 bill to get more chips. Play blackjack for 20 min or so, lose on average lets say $30. When I'm playing I bet the fake chips every time so that, with turnover, by the end of the game all my $170 is real $5 chips. I go to the window.

I've just made $70, in a few minutes, and had some fun playing blackjack.

What am I missing?
Click to expand...

Fool proofed plan, you should try it.
 
Some years ago I read a collection of stories about different scams and counterfeit chips was one of them. IIRC that group got caught by old-fashioned surveillance. Security staff noticed over time that certain people were playing from time to time but weren't buying enough chips to support the amount of play.
 
No idea how you'd get the fake chips in play without anyone seeing.

I also don't think they let people just wander around with chips anymore. A lot of casinos now use a voucher system to keep tabs on your money, and you only get chips when you get to a table. I've only seen local casinos though, I don't know how it works in Vegas.
 
gorcorps said:
No idea how you'd get the fake chips in play without anyone seeing.

I also don't think they let people just wander around with chips anymore. A lot of casinos now use a voucher system to keep tabs on your money, and you only get chips when you get to a table. I've only seen local casinos though, I don't know how it works in Vegas.
Click to expand...

vegas doesn't work like this. you take your chips with you if you aren't cashing out. you can bring them to your room, to the club, or to any other casino you like. you can even pay for drinks at bars with them in the same casino.
 
madoka said:
This guy got 5 years for doing it:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2015/10/man_who_flushed_27m_in_fake_poker_chips_sentenced.html
Click to expand...
Seems it would be easier on a smaller scale, though. This guy had 3.6 million dollars in chips and only got caught because he clogged up the toilet while flushing them. Though there was probably a reason he was flushing them. Probably paranoia that they were on to him, or maybe he was questioned/tortured and it was just a matter of time they would search his room.

If you do happen to get caught with one fake chip, you can play dumb to it. They might even apologize for the inconvenience and give you a real one lol

I imagine pulling it off would involve most of the effort to be spent on body language and details like slight of hand, and multiple trips to the cashier, obtaining a few tickets from slots, and exchanging them together for odd increments of chips. Maybe have a buddy give you a few chips at one point so the cameras can never know your total chip count.

Also, yeah many casinos let you walk around with chips. I've never seen a table print a voucher. You just pick up your chips and go to another table. I've taken stacks home before on accident. I even still have a pink $2.50 chip that I kept as a souvenir.
 
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SaltyNuts said:
So I walk in with $100 worth of fake $5 chips. Put them down on the table, along with another $100 bill to get more chips. Play blackjack for 20 min or so, lose on average lets say $30. When I'm playing I bet the fake chips every time so that, with turnover, by the end of the game all my $170 is real $5 chips. I go to the window.

I've just made $70, in a few minutes, and had some fun playing blackjack.

What am I missing?
Click to expand...

So, you're a criminal with a $70 take? With crime there's some element of risk vs. reward. To make this worthwhile you'd have to do this so much that your chances of not getting caught are minuscule. No business making the money casinos do is worried about someone taking them for $70 and never returning to do the crime again.
 
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