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Mashantucket, Connectibut (AP) 1-09
Foxwoods Resort Casino’s gaming chips are going high-tech.
The eastern Connecticut entertainment complex is phasing out the 49 different sets of old chips and replacing them with new discs, each embedded with tiny radio frequency computer chips and bearing individual serial numbers.
They say that helps the casino keep tabs on the chips and cut back on counterfeiting.
“Tracking the chip gives us a better idea of customer ratings at the table and also assists in chip inventory,” said Jackie Mason, director of casino accounting operations at Foxwoods.
The 2 million new computerized chips have been implemented since the opening of the MGM Grand at Foxwoods last May. They have a similar design: Foxwoods on one side, and either MGM or the WPT World Poker Room logo on the other.
More commemorative chip designs are possible in the future, Mason said.
For people who’ve held on to the old gaming chips, the next few weeks will be the last opportunity to cash them in. After Jan. 31, the old discs will lose their value and become little more than collector’s items.
Sam Lochner, a Foxwoods cage manager, said there is a “significant amount” of outstanding chips still in circulation, although the casino has not disclosed the estimated total value.
Mason told WTNH-Channel 8 TV that the value easily exceeds tens of thousands of dollars.
Customers who want to do more than just collect the older chips must bring them in or mail them to the casino to receive face value.
The casino has publicized the switch on signs throughout Foxwoods and MGM Grand since October, posted notices on the Internet and send e-mail messages directly to Foxwoods regulars.
“We’re getting quite a few mailed from all over the country. The closer we get to Jan. 31, the more we expect,” Lochner said.
The old chips will be destroyed.
Foxwoods, which bills itself the world’s largest casino, has more than 10,000 employees and is run by the Mashantucket Pequot tribe.
On the Web: www.foxwoods.com
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