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Gambling chips have been used since biblical times, from the time people first started gambling. Simple bits of wood, bones and stones the earliest materials used to allow gamblers to keep track of their losses and winnings.

The history of poker chips is influenced by the movement west by pioneers in the USA during the 1800s. That time they didn’t have a lot of entertainment method available to them compared these days. Card games were easy to master and cards were portable. Pokers popularity grew significantly during those years and the need for poker chips grew with it.  Many people are shopping for poker chips for their poker game.  This includes standard and custom poker chips.

Because the banking system had not yet been unified, multiple currencies circulated as legal tender in the US during the 1800s. Some have different currencies. Some carried no currency at all. They used gold, silver or animal furs as the means of exchange. Poker chips were a means of translating all of those diverse riches into a common standard.

Popular gambling venues include saloons and bars, and typically they provide poker chips as part of their service. Clay started to be used as a chip material in the USA during the late 1800s. That continued until after the World War II when Las Vegas was established and the modern casino was born and poker chips entered a new era.

Gambling exploded in the USA during the 1950s, as did the need for poker chips. To be able to cut costs, they started to use plastic as a chip material rather than clay.

During the 1990s, the most recent chapter in the history of poker chips began. Microchip technology was incorporated in these chips in order to track their movement and prevent them from being copied. Furthermore, precise production methods, made possible by digital technologies, now allows poker chips to be manufactured to extremely fine tolerances in terms of size and decorative detail. This in turn renders it that much more difficult to produce counterfeit gambling chips.