Florida-based Bar Maid Corporation released the CHIP CHAMPION™ Casino Chip Cleaning System, addressing one of the casino industry’s biggest challenges… how to clean germy casino chips.
The CHIP CHAMPION Casino Chip Cleaning System allows casinos to routinely clean chips, dice and tiles in-house to reduce potential spread of pathogens among staff and players. It processes thousands of casino chips, dice and tiles per hour and is already in use at multiple casino properties.
Casino chips are one of the most touched surfaces in a casino, changing hands frequently and accumulating oils, feces and pathogens on the surface each time. Casinos rarely clean them, if ever. They can harbor more pathogens than a toilet or door handle.
A study published in the Journal of Environmental Health tested for bacteria and fungi on both new, uncirculated casino chips and circulated casino chips collected from four casinos.¹ Bacteria and fungi were found in statistically significant amounts on the circulated casino chips, including E. coli, a bacteria commonly found in feces and often responsible for foodborne illnesses. Researchers also found both gram-positive and gram-negative rod-shaped bacteria and gram-negative cocci, spherical-like bacteria that can cause meningitis, sinusitis, and bronchopneumonia. Surprisingly, even the uncirculated casino chips were contaminated with bacteria. This study did not test for viral pathogens, but viruses may also survive on the surface of casino chips.
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. Centers for Disease Control advised casinos and gaming operations to limit customers’ sharing of objects and when possible, to clean and disinfect these objects between uses. However, cleaning casino chips has long been problematic due to the composition of chips and security concerns. The process traditionally required casino staff to wipe each chip by hand or an outside service vendor bringing an enormous casino chip cleaning machine onsite, both time consuming and expensive.
How the CHIP CHAMPION Casino Chip Cleaning System works:
A single staff member operates the system. First, sanitize chips, dice and tiles with an EPA registered multi-purpose quaternary tablet sanitizer (sold separately) according to label directions and drain well. Feed up to 160 chips per minute into the portable, stainless steel CHIP CHAMPION machine where they are gently scrubbed and dried by hot organic granulate, then exposed to a UV-C light before exiting dry and immediately ready for use.
“The CHIP CHAMPION Casino Chip Cleaning System helps solve the germy casino chip problem that has plagued casinos for years. Routine cleaning reduces potential spread of pathogens and increases chip life, as chips look newer longer,” says George Shepherd, president of Bar Maid Corporation. “The reduced labor costs versus hand cleaning, and eliminating the need to hire expensive chip cleaning services, translates to a fast ROI.”
There are three models available. Casinos can choose based on volume and available space. The compact model processes 3,000-4,000 chips per hour or 60+ chips per minute. The somewhat larger high output model processes 7,000-9,000 chips per hour or 140+ chips per minute. The high output model, if purchased with the optional Automatic Feeder, will process more than 10,000 chips per hour or 160+ chips per minute. All models have a relatively small footprint that fits most work tables or use the optional wheeled cart for easy portability and storage.
Clean casino chips are a winner for both the house and the player.
1Mc Keown, Edward. (2019, May). Gambling With Your Health: Bacterial Contamination on Casino Gaming Chips. Journal of Environmental Health, Volume 81 (No. 9). https://www.neha.org/node/60687