Ebro greyhound park in Ebro, Florida, is about the only card room in the state without $25 chips. Prior to the state increasing the gaming limits they used 25¢, 50¢, $1, and $5 chips. When the limits were increased rather than ordering more $5 chips and buying new $25 chips they re-labeled their 50¢ chips making them $2 chips. After a while they realized that it was too complicated having $1, $2, and $5 chips in the games, so the $2 chips were removed. On rare occasions, like during their Super Bonus Days, all of their 20+ tables may fill and one or two $2/$5 or even $5/$10 games would break out. This would sometimes require all of the $5 chips in the cage. So what did they do? They decided to re-label their 25¢ chips making them all $10 chips.

I have only seen these yellow $10 chips out of the cage once. They were only put on the $5/$10 game. I was able to get a single chip, but because they're monitoring the chips I was asked to return it. They know of at least one local who took a large number of the then 25¢ chip to use in a home game and fear that he might replicate the label and try to cash them in as $10 chips. This is highly unlikely, especially since the $10 chips hardly ever leave the cage, and even then they're only put on a single table and are highly monitored.

After discussing the casino chip collecting hobby and preserving the history of Florida gaming with the higher ups at the poker room, and writing a favorable article about them for an upcoming issue of Rounder magazine, they also agreed to give me one of their wooden nickels. The nickels are used when the Bad Beat Jackpot is hit. These numbered wooden nickels are given out, in numerical order, to players at all of the tables in the room not seated at the winning table. A side jackpot is paid out to these players. Once the number of players is determined they divide the side jackpot by the number of players, announce the individual prize amount, and players cash in these wooden nickels at the cage. The minimum side jackpot payout is $40 and is capped at $500, so it would not only be unlikely that you could plan on going to Ebro and winning one of these Bad Beat Jackpot wooden nickels, but the value of the side jackpot makes it attractive to cash in at the cage. I was actually there in Jan 09 when the Bad Beat Jackpot was hit. It was the first time I’d seen these wooden nickels. I was handed #002 at the time. I suspect that the one they gave me yesterday was the last in the sequence at #249.

Enjoy.