Emergency Order Issued in NJ Stopping Playboy Casino Chip Redemption

Way back in 1989, the popular Playboy Hotel & Casino shut its doors for good. Regulators decided to deny the operator licensing, so any chips from the venue would be considered expired. For many years, individuals could cash in expired chips for money. That changed after the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement issued an emergency order.

Director of the DGE David Rebuck issued the emergency order on Friday, July 7. The order immediately stopped the redemption of the former NJ casino chips. According to Rebuck, the action was necessary to ensure public peace, health, safety, and good order in the industry.

In a statement, Rebuck said the emergency order would stop fraudulent claims from the chip redemption fund. The goal of the fund was to compensate players of the casino and was not supposed to be used by other people to cash in chips after they received them from someone else. The fund was also not to be used for redemption with chips that should have been destroyed.

For almost four decades now, a special fund was used via the Department of the Treasury to honor the Playboy Casino chips. Elsinore and Playboy Enterprises, the casino owners, set up the fund in 1989. It housed $875,000 for redemption. It is unclear just how much of the fund was used for redeeming chips from the casino.

The money was supposed to be used to pay back gamblers who had expired casino chips from Playboy. The chips could be redeemed via the Treasury until the fund was depleted. There was no time limit on how long the fund would be open for redemption.

According to Rebuck, the 40-year time frame is more than enough to have fulfilled the goal of the fund. By now, the Playboy chips are most likely given as gifts, sold, or provided via inheritance. This is considered a secondary sale, and they should not be redeemable via the fund.

According to the memo by Rebuck, there have been recent attempts to present Playboy Casino chips for redemption from the fund held by the Treasury. The chips are clearly not being redeemed by players who were at the casino and purchased them back in the 1980s.

Playboy also contracted a company decades ago to destroy chips not held by players. The inventory was not destroyed, but these chips should have no value and should not be in circulation. These chips were never eligible for redemption via the Treasury.

The emergency order is being used to stop any new attempts by individuals to cash in from the fund. The order has been served to the Department of the Treasury. Within five days, a petition will be filed by the Division to request redemptions are permanently discontinued for Playboy Casino chips.

The Playboy Casino first opened in 1981 as Hugh Hefner tried to cash in on the success of the Playboy brand. The company then sold its interest in 1982 after Hefner was denied a casino license. Elsinore took over and, two years later, rebranded the casino to the Atlantis Hotel and Casino.

By 1989, the Atlantis closed due to casino license issues. The NJ Casino Control Commission decided to deny a license renewal. At the time, the treasury fund was also to be used for cashing in chips from the Atlantis.

That same year, Donald Trump decided to purchase the property and paid $63 million for the casino and hotel. He renamed it the Trump Regency, and it remained open through 1996. At that time, the casino was renamed Trump World’s Fair.