Casino personnel generally reference chips as "cheques," which is of French ancestry. In reality, there is a difference between a chip and a cheque. A cheque is a chip with a denomination written on it and is always worth the amount of the printed value. Chips, on the other hand, do not have values printed on them and any color can be worth any amount as defined by the casino. For instance, at a poker tournament, the croupier might define white chips as $1 and blue chips as ten dollars; while, in a roulette game, the croupier might define white chips as twenty-five cents and blue chips at $2. A different example, the inexpensive red, white, and blue poker chips you buy at Wal-Mart for your Friday-night poker game are referred to as "chips" due to the fact that they do not have denominations printed on them.
When you put your money down and hear the croupier say, "Cheque change only," he’s merely informing the boxman that a new bettor wish to exchange cash for cheques, and that the cash sitting on the table is not in play. Cash plays in most casinos, so if you put a 5 dollar bill on the Pass Line just prior to the shooter rolls the pair of dice and the dealer doesn’t change your cash for chips, your cash is "live" and "in play."
In reality, in actual craps games, we play with cheques, and not chips. Sometimes, a player will approach the table, drop a $100 cheque, and tell the croupier, "Cheque change." It is amusing to pretend to be a new player and ask the dealer, "Hey, I’m a beginner to this game, what is a cheque?" Generally, their wacky answers will entertain you.
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