At the time Jason Skinner planned his trip to Birmingham casinos a couple of weeks ago, we spoke and decided it was time I took a trip to the south coast to go to a few places we never seem to see chips from. I had to put the trip off a couple of times but finally made it yesterday evening/night.

Bear in mind that UK casinos recently dropped the ’24 hour’ rule, supposedly making access to our casinos easier. Remember also that you have to play the tables in most places here to get the chips, fractionals can be difficult to get in the absence of craps or baccarat, and most suits don’t like their chips being taken and get very suspicious.

Scans of all the chips appear in the story below with prices. Shipping is $2 first chip and 50c per extra.

I set off at 4pm for the 100 mile drive to Bournemouth. Started with the Stanley. Ive been to Bournemouth many times before but not to this casino. Neither the map I printed from their website or my GPS indicated the casino was amongst the shops in a large pedestrianised zone. Having found the closest car park and walked half a mile I walk in the doorway of a run down old building reminiscent of a 1980’s soho stripjoint. I hand the guy a Stanley membership card from Reading. Although Ive never been here before, he swipes it and says Im good to go. No ID, no forms. Inside, the casino isn’t much better than the entrance. 2 roulette, 2 BJ and 2 3 card poker tables and that’s the lot. The only people playing are two oriental girls at a blackjack table. They are playing £100+ a hand. I try the cage first. Now, lets put this into perspective; the casino is the size of the Palms hi-limit poker room; the cage is the size of Gene’s office. The guy is helpful. He lets me buy a few £1 and £5. I ask about the 50p. “I have a problem with those”
“Oh, whats the problem?”
“I had 300 delivered 6 months ago and I have 6 left plus the few that are on the tables. Ive been waiting 3 months for BJ to send the re-order”
I look round and see there are 3 or 4 chips on each of the rlt and bj tables.
I go to the first rlt table and Im in luck, it’s a 50p table. I buy in for £1, place one chip and cash in. I go to the washroom, return and repeat the exercise. Then I go back to the cage and beg the guy to let me have 2 of his 6 chips. That works so Im done.

Onto the Gala just round the corner. Ive been here in the past when it was Stakis. Gala have improved it, moved it upstairs and its now 4 times the size it was. About 20 tables and plenty slots. I show my old Stakis membership card and the guy swipes it. Im still on the computer. “Are you going to give me a new card”
“I can do, but if I was you I would keep the old one. It will get you into any ex-Stakis property without re-joining”
I go to the cage but no luck. I walk around and see a suit I used to know from London. “I guess you are after chips”
“Just checking what you are using but I see they are all the generics”
“Yup. Dealers hate them but they wont let us have anything else. You can buy what you want off the tables, no problem”
When Im done I have a wander around. I see a flyer advertising no-limit holdem tourny’s. Ah, must have a poker room. Totally unmarked, down a corridor and round a corner (ala MS Norweigan Star) I find it. This room has 9 tables! Three people sit playing at one table. Rest of the room is deserted. As I get back in the main room I see the suit is standing at the cage and he waves me over.
“There are a few old Stakis chips here that we cashed”
The £5’s are real beat up. There are a few passable £1’s in both designs. I take them and head off.

30 mile drive to Southampton. Never been to a casino here before. There are 3, all located close to each other. First is the Grosvenor. Not much to report. Had to ‘sign up’ at this one, place is small and dingy (typical Grosvenor), chips are the same here as Portsmouth later except they have the 25p and 50p chipcos same as London Victoria. As I have plenty of these already I don’t bother.

Onto the Harbour House. The only private casino in the area. Jason and I knew this place had a membership fee of £150 but I tried anyway.
The Swedish blonde at the desk enquires
“Can I help you, sir”
“Im enquiring about membership”
“It is £150 sir, you can pay by credit card”
An application form and pen appears in a nanosecond
I glance up at a sign on the wall behind her ‘Membership fee £150. Management reserves the right to waive this fee’
“How do I get the fee waived?”
“Are you a member anywhere else, and where?”
I reel off 20 London casino names
“Wait a moment sir, I will call a manager down”
Manager arrives and asks the same question. I start reeling off the names again but he is not impressed. When I mention ’50 St James’ he suddenly says “That’s fine sir, we can waive the fee”
I fill out the form, show ID, get photographed, and am presented with just about the worst quality membership card Ive seen (not for sale) Print starts coming off it immediately.
The manager decides he should show me round. This is a smart place. On the way I explain Im after chips. He says I cant buy them but he has no problem with me leaving with whatever I have in my pocket. I see they have 50p, £1 and £5. Roulette table is £5 minimum so I opt for BJ. I get 3 50p chips but lose £150 in the process.
I see they have a high limit area which is closed. Roulette and 2 BJ’s. I wander over to take a look. £25 and up The high limit ashtrays take my fancy (nice big logo) but they are way too big for my pockets and Im being well watched. I leave pi$$ed. They effectively got my £150 membership out of me anyway.

Onto the Stanley. The girl doesn’t like my Reading membership card (even though I tell her it was okay in Bournemouth) so I do the paperwork thing again. This place is no bigger than Bournemouth. At least they have matchbooks and pens. I ‘fill up’.
Only two tables? Whats this, no 50p chips? They have 50p coins on the tables. I ask the suit about it and tell him what happened at Bournemouth. “Weve been waiting longer than that. We are all out of them. Gave up and started using coins”
I have to play the roulette a while and keep changing up to get what I need in £1 and £5.

20 mile drive down to Portsmouth. Southsea is part of Portsmouth so the Southsea Grosvenor is only ½ mile from one of the Portsmouth ones.

First the new Grosvenor in the dock area. Another Grosvenor card takes me right in. Strange. Another pokey little place, identical chips to Bournemouth. I head straight out as its already 10.30pm and I have 3 more stops to make.
Down to the old town and the Southsea Grosvenor (formerly Tiberius). Paperwork again at this place and then I see that mixed in with the generic chips (same as above) there are a few others (mainly the one on the left). Again I have to play, and it costs me to get a few chips. This is another small place with no clientele.

Back into Portsmouth proper to the main Grosvenor. (formerly Soames). Card gets me straight into this one. I see they are using Pleasurama chips all round. I ask a suit about Soames chips “There were no Soames chips, Soames was Pleasurama. When we took the place over no-one liked the Grosvenor chips. We still had the old rack so put it back in play” I play a few losing spins before the suit comes over and helps me out with chips. This place is not that big but somehow has a dozen tables squeezed in.

One more stop to go. Geez, I hope I don’t have to play here for chips or I will be looking for an ATM. Must have lost near £250 tonight. Almost a waste of time going The Stanley Portsmouth is small but pleasant. Again another card gets me straight in. I go to the cage and ask first. “Sorry but we are not allowed to sell them to you but if you go to the tables and ask you should get what you want”
Only about 8 tables in this place but a roulette table is empty. I even see a couple of 50p chips lying there.
“Can I buy some cash chips for souvenirs please?”
“Sure, what do you want”
“The two 50p, 5 x £5 and the rest in £1 to make £50”
“Sorry sir, cant sell you that many at all”
“What can I get then?”
“Im not sure, I will have to check”
An elderly suit, trying desperately to look younger swaggers over
“Whats the problem sir”
I repeat the routine
“No problem sir, you can have those. That’s £50 total”
I hadn’t realised but have only 3 £20 notes left. Therefore I get two extra £5’s in change. “Thanks for the help. As I cant tip you I will at least give you the extra £10 back.” I place £5 on 11 and £5 on 8/11. The dealer spins the wheel. The suit says 11 is an absolute racing certainty. He aint wrong. The dealer pays out the £260 in 10 x £25 and 2 x £5. The suit jokes “Give him a £100, he hasn’t bought one of those yet”
I press the bet (which loses) and go back to the cage with the £250. Looks like I near enough broke even for the night.
Cashier says “I thought you only came here to buy chips”
I explain what happened. She pays me and then asks if I know Ross Walker (club member). He is a regular there. They all know him and his collection. I head out. Its midnight now and I have 90 miles to drive back. This morning when I examined the chips I see the two 50p from Portsmouth are different to the ones from Bournemouth above. Had I realised I might have pushed my luck and asked if he could find me more

One point to note. The Stanley Bournemouth and Portsmouth have roulette chips with the casino name on. No opportunity to get any this time but will take friends on another occasion.

Pens and matches are free while stocks last Just send me the shipping.

Orders by email please. It may be tomorrow before I get back to you as I have sleep to catch on and guests to socialise with.