Casino staff generally reference chips as "cheques," which has its origins in France. In reality, there’s a difference between a cheque and a chip. A cheque is a chip with a value printed on it and is forever worth the value of the printed value. Chips, on the other hand, don’t have values written on them and any color can be worth any amount as determined by the croupier. For example, at a poker table, the croupier may define white chips as one dollar and blue chips as $10; at the same time, in a roulette game, the casino may define white chips as 25 cents and blue chips at two dollars. A further example, the cheap red, white, and blue plastic chips you purchase at Wal-Mart for your weekly poker game are called "chips" because they do not have values printed on them.
When you plop your money on the table and hear the croupier announce, "Cheque change only," he’s merely informing the boxman that a new competitor wants to change cash for chips, and that the cash sitting on the table is not in play. Cash plays in many betting houses, so if you place a 5 dollar bill on the Pass Line just prior to the player tosses the pair of dice and the croupier does not exchange your money for chips, your money is "live" and "in play."
In reality, in actual craps games, we gamble with with cheques, not chips. Sometimes, a player will approach the table, put down a one hundred dollar cheque, and instruct the croupier, "Cheque change." It is fun to pretend to be a new player and ask the dealer, "Hey, I am a brand-new to this game, what’s a cheque?" Most of the time, their comical responses will entertain you.
