Craps

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Casino staff usually reference chips as "cheques," which is of French origin. In reality, there’s a difference between a cheque and a chip. A cheque is just a chip with a denomination printed on it and is forever worth the amount of the printed value. Chips, on the other hand, don’t have values written on them and the value is defined by the casino. For instance, at a poker table, the dealer might value white chips as $1 and blue chips as 10 dollars; whereas, in a roulette game, the dealer might define white chips as $0.25 and blue chips as $2. Another example, the inexpensive red, white, and blue plastic chips you purchase at the department store for your Friday-night poker game are referred to as "chips" due to the fact that they don’t have denominations written on them.

When you plop your money down and hear the croupier say, "Cheque change only," he’s basically informing the boxman that a new competitor wish to change money for chips, and that the cash on the table isn’t in play. Money plays in most casinos, so if you put a five dollar bill on the Pass Line just before the player tosses the dice and the dealer does not change your money for chips, your cash is "live" and "in play."

Technically, in live craps games, we gamble with with cheques, not chips. Sometimes, a player will walk up to the the table, put down a 100 dollar cheque, and inform the dealer, "Cheque change." It is fun to pretend to be a beginner and ask the dealer, "Hey, I’m a brand-new to this game, what is a cheque?" Most of the time, their comical answers will entertain you.