I was going through my old Prodigy Board archives looking for a certain post & came across a thread about roulette harvesting. I have included two of the posts from that thread below. The names of the posters will remain a secret to protect the innocent. Andy - Las Vegas

1. Only get roulette chips with the casino's name or logo on them. You will find that many casinos use generic chips that are not actively traded. Only those chips with the some kind of personalization are usually collected.

2. Wear inconspicious clothing. This may sound like an unnecessary precaution, but in this case, clothing can be important. A roulette operator goes through many people and dozens of faces per hour. If your wearing a flashy shirt or funny hat, the operator might remember you. (In other words, a hat with the words "Roulette Chip Thief" and an arrow pointing down is not smart.

3. Find a busy table. This is necessary since the roulette operator and pit bosses are too busy to worry about one person when I table is bustling with activity. When you alone, you stick out like a sore thumb.

4. Look for tables where the number of stacks are uneven. Tables where there are 10 stacks of yellow, 8 of blue, 9 of red, etc. are good because the dealers lose track of the amount of stacks with which they started.

5. Always take 20 at a time! This is the most important rule of them all. Roulette chips are put in stacks of 20 to make counting easier for the dealers. If you don't take chips in series of 20's, they will discover that you short changed them when they rake the chips and come after you to cash them in. If they are not paying attention to how many stacks they started with (which is usually the case), they will not know that one is gone.

6. Don't request certain colors or designs. This is not as important as the others. Sometimes people can get away with selling the point of having lucky colors, but to me, this is a tip-off to the dealers and pit personel. Use your own judgement on this one.

7. Find a way to hide the chips from casino "eyes". Eyes refer to roulette operators (sometimes two of them), pit bosses, and the 'eye in the sky'. This is one reason busy tables are nice. Some people will drop a few chips in their pockets at a time when no one is looking untilthey get all twenty down. I like to find a table where all the seats are taken and cash in for two stacks (usually $20). I then get one of those change cups used for slot machine change and put the two stacks inside with my palm over the top. If anyone asks, I use the cup to hold the chips since there is no available space at the table. After about three rolls and exhausting one stack, I quietly walk off with my one stack sitting hidden in the cup.

8. Wait until the roulette operator starts raking in the chips before leaving. It's important to play at least one stack of chips to make the illusion work. I find it best to have the last hand the one where I put the most chips down. Also, try to play straight numbers on the last roll. Chances are you'll lose and you can escape. (If you happen to win, well, you just paid for your trip!) After the number is rolled and the dealer started racking the chips, this is the perfect opportunity for you to make your quiet escape.

9. If your caught, act like you didn't know any better. Every once in awhile, a good roulette snatcher will get caught with his hand in the cookie jar. If this happens, but act as if you are new at roulette and didn't know the rules. A good line is, "I was just going to cash them in at the cage." They will tell you you need to cash them in at the roulette table and that will be that. No harm, no foul. If you tell them your a casino chips collector, you can forget about ever getting any roulette chips from there again. You will be marked!

Another person added.........

1. I also buy in for 2 stacks and play one off while pocketing the rest. However, sometimes you can get a "free ride" if the dealer who gave you the chips goes on break. You see, the new dealer has no idea how many you started with! I call this a free ride because it allows you to leave the table and proceed DIRECTLY to another table to do it again without worrying about getting caught!

2. As for colors, I will not ask because if you get labeled as a collector, you will get so much heat that you may as well just go home, because they WILL be watching you. At Harrah's in AC, a group of us assembled an entire set of 84 different chipco roulettes. Since I had to drive 225 miles to get there, I sure didn't want to get caught. The best way to get a color you need is to have a friend or two buy in until one of you gets the remaining desired color. That person, of course, pockets the needed chips while the others can run interference by slowing the dealer down. Like asking for change as your "friend" walks away with a stack before the dealer can muck up the chips.

3. In Las Vegas, some of the big casinos have automatic chip sorters. The dealer slides all losing chips into a hole and a machine sorts the chips by color. This makes life easier because the machine doesn't know that you have left the table, and the dealer is usually too busy emptying the machine.

4. Learn when the shift changes! After you have lifted 4 or 5 stacks, there won't be many dealers left on the shift that you haven't "played" with. But, once the shift changes, you can start all over again because the new dealers haven't seen you yet.

5. Keep a couple of outfits in the car. A different hat, jacket, or even glasses. Anything to make you look innocent and inconspicuous.