Casino personnel usually refer to chips as "cheques," being of French origin. In reality, there is a difference between a chip and a cheque. A cheque is a chip with a denomination written on it and is forever valued at the value of the printed number. Chips, however, don’t have denominations written on them and any color can be valued at any amt. as determined by the dealer. e.g., in a poker tournament, the dealer might state that white chips as $1 and blue chips as 10 dollars; whereas, in a roulette game, the croupier might value white chips as 25 cents and blue chips as two dollars. An additional instance, the inexpensive red, white, and blue poker chips you purchase at Wal-Mart for your weekend poker get together are called "chips" seeing as they don’t have denominations imprinted on them.

When you put your $$$$ down on the craps table and hear the croupier announce, "Cheque change only," he’s basically informing the box man that a new gambler would like to trade money for chips (cheques), and that the $$$$$$ on the table is not part of the action. $$$$$$ plays in almost all casinos, so if you put a five dollar bill on the Pass Line just prior to the tosser throwing the dice and the croupier does not exchange your money for chips, your money is "part of the action." When the croupier says, "Cheque change only," the boxman knows that your $$$$$$ is not in play.

In reality, in land based craps games, we gamble with cheques, not chips. Occasionally, a player will walk up to the the craps table, put down a $100 cheque, and tell the dealer, "Cheque change." It is amusing to act like a newbie and say to the dealer, "Hey, I’m new to this game, what is a cheque?" Most of the time, their comical answers will entertain you.