...because of current state laws in California, all card rooms, (this doesn't apply at the Indian Casinos) the house is not allowed to bank games like blackjack and pai gow poker. The players bank against each other and the house collects an "ante" or "collection" for each hand in advance of the bets. Whether the players or bank pushes, wins, or loses, the house always gets their collection, no commission is collected (this leads to the "free collection" button/chip, a story for another time).

This opened an opportunity for "corporations" to come in with large sums of money to operate as bankers. All gamers know that if you have a large enough bankroll the house percentage will eventually make you a profit. So these corporations come in with $10-20,000 at a time, per table! They must make money because they still exsist and hire "students" and young people to sit in games for 8 hours a day to act as their representatives as banker. Alot of speculation arises around who these corporations are, where their financing comes from, etc; not a discussion for this board.

Anyways, every players gets a turn to act as banker, and sometimes the action on the table isn't enough for the banker, so he can ask the corporation to wager any amount up to the table limit or the amount of the banker's wager, whichever comes first. The catch is the coporation charges a 5% fee ($5 per $100 wager). I guess that's how they make their money. Pushes are all easy money because no money changes hands but the corporation keeps the fee. Pai Gow has a lot of pushes.

Getting back to the chip, they act as markers and are placed on top of the wagers by the corporation to signify their wagers. In the California card rooms, each hand have multiple wager spots and can have multiple players.

The Bicycle has different colors and numbers. Other casinos, Commerce and Hawaiian Gardens use blank generic chips to act as markers. Unfortunately I only have this one. I plan to put it on eBay, unless someone really wants it bad enough to offer a price, trade, or deal.