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Luminous readers
I put this one in mainly because it shows how little trust you or anyone should put in gambling supply house catalog copy. Some of the gimmicks they list, which the amateur cheat buys because he knows no better, are strictly sucker items. When the would-be cheat orders a deck of luminous readers at $12.50 to $18 per deck, he receives by express (these boys avoid using the mails) a red-¬backed deck of cards whose backs bear large numerals lightly marked in with green pencil. You also get a cheap pair of glasses with red-tinted lenses or a red-tinted, transparent eyeshade. When the card is viewed in red light the red back design fades out and the green markings turn dark and become visible for you alone. If you suspect this gimmick, simply ask to borrow the glasses or eyeshade for a moment.
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Chips and Money in Casinos
Using Dice
I mentioned earlier that dice are packed in sets of five. This is how dice are usually used on crap tables. It allows the player a choice in his selection of the pair that he wishes to play with.
At the beginning of every shift, and at the bowman’s discretion any time during the game, anyone, or all five of the dice can be changed. The box man will take time to examine each die individually and satisfy himself that the he is overseeing is playing with "perfect" dice. He will also call in any die that flies off the table during a toss. He will "eyeball" it, spinning it between his thumb and forefinger, to satisfy him that this is definitely a good die. All this is done before allowing the game to go on. If a player should call for the "same dice" after the dice leave the table on a bad toss, the box man will go through the same procedure to double check that the dice have not been switched by the player.
All of this attention to the dice by the manufacturer, the , and the box man (the person ultimately responsible for the dice on the table) assures that the dice are truly "good." It protects the player insofar as it gives him peace of mind that he is getting a fair shake. It also protects the casino because "crooked" dice can bankrupt a casino in no time at all. As a player, I never worry about the dice on any legal crap table in Nevada or New Jersey.
Casino Chips
Chips are used in casinos for lots of reasons. They cut down on the need for the casino to have large quantities of cash on the tables; they make it easier for dealers to operate quickly and efficiently; and they create the illusion of not playing with money as far as the player is concerned. The term chip is actually a misnomer. The true name is check (or in the original British, cheque), which, according to the Random House College Dictionary, is "a written order ... directing a bank to pay money." Today's check is a written (stamped) order that guarantees payment to the bearer, on demand, when presented to the proper casino cashier. In fact, a later definition is "a counter used in card games." The word chip is an American derivation of the word cheque.
The original cheques used in casinos in Europe were really tiles of various colors. They were made of ivory. Each color, as it does today, represented a different value of money. Over the years it became easier to manufacture cheques in the more familiar round shape and somewhere in the American West the name chip came into being and it sticks to this day. The game of still uses tiles in many of the larger casinos in Las Vegas. As plastics came into existence, manufacturers changed from ivory to plastic composition in their production.
Chips Design
Chips are made to standards that are set throughout the gaming industry. They are one-eighth of an inch thick and one and nine-sixteenths inches in diameter. The edges are square (at least when the chip is brand new) and each face has an overall fine criss-cross pattern that is lightly embossed into it. This pattern allows for easy stacking of the chips and also keeps the whole pile together as the dealer slides it towards the player who has either purchased the chips or has won them.
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