Fred: The story is when Resorts opened they had their $5 chips marked baccarat to use only in the bacc pit. The chip was the same design as their regular rack $5 chips with the exception of the word "Baccarat".

When gaming finally got underway at Resorts (the first casino to go into action in A.C.) it was a very big deal and gaining access to the casino was very difficult. There were long lines of patrons waiting to get in every day. Access to the baccarat pit was limited to only the biggest players, making it virtually impossible for a collector to walk in to buy a chip for collection. If a player from the baccarat pit carried the chips outside the baccarat pit and played them ouside the baccarat pit, the casino accepted the action but had to put the chip/s aside and credit them off the table later. This action was required by the very strict operating procedures the State imposed on Resorts at that time.

Since only the biggest gamblers had access to those chips, early collectors did not have access to them unless they stumbled across them on a table outside the baccarat pit.

The strick rules proved very cumbersome and time consuming for the casino. After a few months of using their valuable time to credit those chips off the tables, Resorts took all of the chips out of service and eventually destroyed them a few years later. This story was related to me by the first Resorts Casino Manager Jim Carr who was my Casino Manager at Bally's Grand in A.C.

In 1988(?) Archie Black's first chip collectors newsletter (Now the Chip and Token News) featured the Resorts Baccarat $5 chip on the cover. In the write-up I think Archie stated that there were 6 or 7 known at that time. I have kept informal count of that chip over the years and I believe there may be 12 or 13 known in collections today. Now you know the rest of the story. Chuck.