I have noticed several high denominations ($500 & $1,000) Desert Inn Chipco chips being offered for sale in the last few weeks. The thought crossed my mind that they could have been sample chips and not real chips that were actually delivered to the Desert Inn. I decided to ask the expert, John Kendall, the owner of Chipco International. John and Chipco are true friends of our hobby and always willing to share information that is not classified. This is a long post. If you are not interested in the chip history of the DI, best to hit the back button, NOW.

John’s reply follows, I thought it was a great addition to the history of Desert Inn chips.
*in additional emails from John and Jodi (Chipco employee) we know the chips were delivered to the DI in Dec 1991. An email from John to Jodi in Jan 92 about the problem indicates to me the chips went on the tables in Jan 92.
* The DI executive in John's reply is Burton Cohen.
*Additional email from Jodi indicates 4,200 of the $500 chips were made.
*The DI destroyed the chips, they were not returned to Chipco.
* Johns reply was done fast and is exactly as he wrote.
*My note: There is no way to know how many of the high denominations survived the destruction process. It could have been a few or the whole rack.
*This information also dates the BJ coin inlays to Jan 1992.
* Surveilance problems with chips is not unusual in the casino industry.
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Hello Gene,

These chips were shipped to the DI and used there briefly. The DI had such old B & W surveillance camera system that they did not have any IR filters on them. Our chips absorb IR, and reflect back at a different IR wavelength (part of CHIPCO’s security scheme). This chip material characteristic caused the DI surveillance cameras to loose the color definition (all colors looked very gray with equal intensity).

The “guys in the sky” could not distinguish the different chips from thir color with these cameras when the scene was illuminated from their chandelier lightening. The very small GE light bulbs emitted an IR wavelength right over the top of the narrow wavelength we use as one of our security measures. This light wavelength from the chandeliers was absorbed into our chip material and reflected back at a different wavelength not visible to the naked eye.

David Brogan our sales manager visited the casino, and confirmed what the DI people had been telling him. (The DI called us almost within hours after they put the chips on the tables about this problem). I flew out from Maine to investigate and discovered what I thought was the problem (the light wavelength from the chandeliers, and the very old surveillance cameras without IR filters.

I spoke with the DI maintenance dept. to get the manufacturer of the lightbulbs (GE). Then I called GE to get an IR wavelength pattern faxed to me at the DI of this wavelength. I remember the technician at GE that I spoke with was quite intrigued with my request and the reason for it. When the wave pattern was faxed to me, you could put it over the IR absorption wave pattern of our chip material, and it was like tracing the same line.

I then called Corning Glass to ask them for an IR wave filter in this range, and had them overnight this filter to me at the DI. When it arrived I went down to the tables and held this filter over the stack of chips (top and side) and all the color definition returned as normal. It was like someone turned the light on in a dark room when this filter passed over the chips.

The surveillance guys said that solved the problems, but now all the B & W cameras needed this filter added. CHIPCO agreed to buy these filters, but the executives at the DI had already given another emergency chip order to Bud Jones because they did not know if an answer to this security surveillance problem could ever be solved, and they needed a solution ASAP before the Super Bowl weekend the end of January. I tried to get them to cancel the Bud Jones order, but they had already paid full price in advance. They accepted the BJ rack and took ours off the tables after only one month of play.

I stayed at the DI for one week to deal personally with this problem because we had never seen this issue before. Because I knew the construction materials and the IR absorption characteristics of our chips, and their designed security measures; I was probably the only one that would have suspected the cause (the light bulbs in the chandeliers and the old surveillance cameras without IR filters) and ultimately the solution to this perplexing challenge.

I remember explaining this sequence of events to the surveillance guys and they were quite impressed. The President of the DI at the time was ???? Bernard ????. God, I should remember his name. A very reputable executive with many years at several casino properties; even inducted into the Gaming Hall of Fame I think recently. I can picture him but I am not coming up with his name this morning before my coffee. You may think of it before me Gene!

So, that is the story on these DI CHIPCO chips. BJ made big news replacing our rack, but we still continued our sales despite this unfortunate event. What a rare set of circumstances to have this occur. Stranger than life as they say. And as Paul Harvey would say, “and now you have the rest of the story.”

We probably ought to publish this story in a Collectors magazine sometime after we get all the names and dates right. What do you think? John

*Yes John, I think it should be published in the Club mag. How about it Allan?