Ehh…I was bored the other night, so I found myself scouring all of the Pa Gaming Control Board regulations and filings. Most would find this mundane, but by now, laws and regulations flow like children’s stories in my mind. Anyway, I was reading over the temporary table games regulations, keep in mind that they are only temporary. They are effective when passed by the board, but they are not officially finalized. The lack of finalization allows the Pa GCB to accept comment on the regulations and revise them accordingly before they are finalized. (At least I’m pretty sure this is the impetus behind it.)
The regulations are full of interesting rules that really stick out. Most are mundane facts in regards to the procedures that control the dropping and filing of the money from the table games. Before I go any further, I should mention that PA took the very non-inventive approach of almost completely copying the NJ regulations. In the gaming industry, the NJ regulations are not necessarily the norm though. Therefore, as for the comments and suggestions the casinos themselves submitted to the board, the casinos were most critical of the regulations that were arbitrarily in place in NJ, but lacking in a majority of other gaming-approved states.
I will not bore any readers with what some of those differences are, but I just wanted to point out a few parts of the regulations which caught my attention. Let me first say that I have been in more casinos than I would admit to and also take note of all the “behind the scenes” aspects. One of those being chip colors. Most people do take note of this also, but I take note of the chip colors of the ones I wished I also had ($500, $1000, $5000, etc.).
Most casinos are fairly standard on the denominations up to $1000 and then after that vary. The PA regulations have colors required of chips up to $5000. Mind you, these are required under the temporary regulations and are likely to be the standard because casinos have the chips printed already and will be unable to just order a changed color. Most people have seen the standard colors of Blue/White for $1, Red for $5, Green for $25, Black for $100, and purple for $500. The more elusive chip though is the $1000 chip. In most casinos, this chip is the color yellow, which has earned it the colloquial title of “banana.” I assure you that you are highly unlikely to see these at any poker table you will be playing at. If you have, you are probably not reading this blog because you are playing the 10/20 and up NL games in Vegas.
Anyway, they are a nice chip to have, but the interesting part is that PA regulations require them to be the mysterious and exciting color of “fire orange.” WTF? If this is still the required color, I can’t wait to see these chips in all their “fire orange” glory. They will probably be just basic orange. Why am I on this tangent you ask? Well, the funny part of regulations is that they are usually mundane and basic and the other colors are the standard in the industry but somehow this color slipped in. And not just any orange, “fire orange.” Apparently I am not the only one who was puzzled by the color, as a few casinos wrote to the board inquiring as to exactly what is “fire orange”?
The insertion of that intriguing color reminds me of a scene from “Fight Club.” (Please skip to below if you have not seen the movie, or go out and rent it right now) The scene is where Edward Norton is at work and he comments on the boss wearing his “cornflower blue” tie today and how it must be his good day because he is wearing his cornflower blue tie and how his boss loves that color. The scene ends by the boss requesting that the new program being presented can have the icon in “cornflower blue.” This is what I imagined what happened at the regulation meeting at the GCB concerning what color to make the chips.
“So, just the standard colors for the chips right Bob?”
“Joe, how about we make the $1000 chip Fire Orange!”
Joe, staring quizzically back at Bob, “Fire Orange it is Bob.”
Well, you probably want to shoot yourself after reading that, but if you got a laugh out of it, continue to read below.
The other regulation which has caught a lot of slack is the one requiring that when a poker player leaves the table for any temporary period of time, the floor of the poker room is required to cover the chips with a non-transparent cover or count the chips of the player while leave and returning to ensure they are all there. As you imagine, this is basically impracticable. No casino does this in practice and I am unsure where PA came up with this. It also puts the casino in an awkward position where the floor could be accused of theft if the player comes back and says that the floor miscounted, etc., etc. Realistically, the safeguards are already in place (surveillance, dealers keeping eye on chips, other players at table seeing chips.)
Casinos feel the same way obviously and let the board know this through numerous letters filed with them. I am curious to see if this regulation is finalized and if it is, if the casinos will actually put it to practice. I TRULY hope not, as it is nonsensical and would become a burden if you just want to leave the table to go have a smoke, walk around after a bad beat, etc. When I finally get to talk to the poker room manager in charge at the Rivers, I will be sure to inquire if this is going to be the case or if the regulation was changed.
Last, as related to chips, there was a report that the Meadows new casino chips will have radio frequencies installed in them. This is quite interesting and an expensive deterrent against sophisticated crime against the casino. They are nearly 2.55 a piece, meaning the chips will cost the casino nearly $500,000.
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