Craps

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Casino employees usually reference chips as "cheques," being of French background. Technically, there is a difference between a chip and a cheque. A cheque is a chip with a amount written on its face and is always valued at the amount of the printed number. Chips, however, don’t have denominations printed on them and any colour can be valued at any cash amount as determined by the dealer. For instance, in a poker tournament, the dealer might state that white chips as $1 and blue chips as 10 dollars; at the same time, in a roulette game, the dealer may define white chips as $0.25 and blue chips as 2 dollars. Another example, the inexpensive red, white, and blue poker chips you can get at Wal-Mart for your weekly poker game are referred to as "chips" because they do not have denominations written on them.

When you plop your money down on the craps table and hear the croupier say, "Cheque change only," he’s simply telling the boxman that a new gambler wants to trade $$$$$$ for chips (cheques), and that the cash on the table isn’t in play. $$$$$ plays in a majority of casinos, so if you put a five dollar bill on the Pass Line just prior to the tosser tossing the bones and the croupier doesn’t change your cash for chips, your money is "part of the action." When the croupier announces, "Cheque change only," the boxman knows that your $$$$$$ is not part of the action.

In reality, in land based craps games, we wager with cheques, and not chips. Occasionally, a gambler will walk up to the the craps table, drop a one hundred dollar cheque, and say to the croupier, "Cheque change." It is entertaining to act like a beginner and say to the croupier, "Hey, I am new to Craps, what is a cheque?" Generally, their comical responses will amuse you.