PLAYBOY CASINO (AC) CHIPS TURN UP AS
AN ARCHEOLOGICAL TREASURE (?)

The Playboy Casino that opened in 1981 and existed for three years has come back to life. At least many, many of its chips have! A recent construction site in Hernando, Mississippi has uncovered a vast hoard of Playboy Casino Atlantic City chips in many different denominations!

At first glance collectors from the Casino Chip & Gaming Token Collectors Club, Inc. (CC>CC) were skeptical but delighted to be able to add previously unavailable Playboy casino chips to their collections. As the source of chips and the size of the discovery unfolded their delight turned into a need to find out the truth behind this massive discovery, referred by many in the hobby as a “DIG FIND.”

The story continues to unfold as this is written:

Here is what we know!

The Playboy Casino in Atlantic City operated for 3 years, from 1981 to 1984. The casino closed and according to New Jersey Casino Control Commission regulations the chips were to be destroyed. The chips were sent to the Green Duck Corporation (GDC) in Hernando, Mississippi. The (GDC) was charged with the job of destroying the chips. There is some confusion as to whether they had also made the chips. The chips have been identified by one source as being manufactured by the Bud Jones Chip Company but by another source as having been manufactured by the (GDC). There in hangs the tale so far.

Instead of destroying the chips they buried them.

GDC closed and a community Center was to be built in its place. As the workers were removing a layer of concrete, you’ll never guess what was underneath!

According to two sources somewhere between 30,000 to 100,000 Playboy casino chips were buried under the concrete! The concrete itself apparently protected many of the COIN CENTER (metal) chips and as the centers were made out of stainless steel and the chips were of a composite material that included ceramic compounds many, many of the chips were in pretty decent shape.

So, who put them there?
No one yet knows that answer!

Why weren’t they destroyed as ordered?

One answer is that with the COIN CENTERS they could not be disposed of locally in Atlantic City so they needed to be sent somewhere where total destruction could take place!

Why didn’t they destroy them?

Is the New Jersey Gaming Control Board looking into this? You bet they are!

When a casino closes in New Jersey an inventory of unredeemed chips takes place and the money to cover them is taken by the New Jersey Gaming Control Board (NJGCB) for redemption of future returns of unaccounted for chips.

WELL! There are all these chips now found in the dig in Mississippi, are they accounted for? Have they been redeemed in the past only to reappear? Are they the so called, “BACK UP CHIPS” kept by casinos in case a need arises for duplicate chips to be used?

“The matter has been referred to the State Police to see if there’s anything they need to investigate and any action they need to take, just because it’s a very significant amount.” , According to the Casino Control Commission (CCC) spokesman Daniel Henegahn.

The chips were found by construction workers, they consulted with their superiors, law enforcement was called in and it seems like everybody who saw the chips took the chips, amounts varied from ten to a thousand or more and they put them up for sale on eBay!
The values of the previously known varieties of these Playboy Casino chips have plunged in value!

The Casino Chip & Gaming Token Collectors Club, Inc., founder Archie Black had this to say:

“When were the Playboy denomination chips ordered to be destroyed and why wasn't their destruction verified and documented and what year were they eventually buried at Green Duck in Mississippi? Remember, we don't know for sure at this point in time WHEN the chips were buried. It may not have been 20 year ago as some have speculated.”

The members of the Casino Chip & Gaming Token Collectors Club, Inc. (CC>CC) have been very diligent in researching all of the issues surrounding this amazing find (DIG) and much discussion focuses still on what else might be buried in or near Hernando, Mississippi as it is unclear even at this date just why, how, when and who sent these chips to the (GDC) in Mississippi and did or did not order the destruction of these and other chips that may be lying in the ground waiting to be discovered. It has happened in Nevada, simply not on this scale, AT LEAST NOT YET, the final pages of this story have yet to be written!