Okku's Historical Casino Videos & Random Fun Stuff

[Okku]

This is the 2nd installation of "The Chiplist" which is the new series that I've started going over weekly eBay auctions and some of the nicer chips that have been sold. This week there were some chips that I had never seen before like a Sands Race and Sports Book $1000, Golden Nugget 50c and a few more. Some of the prices I was pretty surprised about and the chip market is still going strong which is good to see. I'm very excited to see more chips coming onto the market in the near future and what kind of goodies will come out of the woodworks. Let's keep chipping fun!

Here's the link:

 

[The Chip Spa]

Awesome!

 

[The Chip Spa]

More More!

 

[Okku]

Today we talk about a unique vintage chip set that I picked up off Facebook marketplace here locally in Las Vegas! This was something that one of my good friends Travis sent me the link too and at first I wasn't going to pick it up, but I thought why not take the chance. I believe these chips are from the 60s or 70s, somewhere in that area. I'd like to say that because of the case and the chips feel like the are Bud Jones chips. The case is really sturdy, the lock mechanism is something I've never seen before and it's just so cool. The chips themselves stack so well, so tall and are just built very durably. I've very excited about this set and would like to find out more information if there is any. I'm sure they are just personal custom chips, but they are very nice. Hope you enjoy!

Here's the link:

 

[Okku]

Today we are talking about the history of the Landmark Casino that was in Las Vegas from the early 1960s, but didn't open until 1969, until finally closing in 1990. The Landmark was a building concept that hadn't really been seen before. Many would say that the Space Needle inspired the Landmark's building concept, but that's untrue since the Space Needle had just started construction a few months before the Landmark. At the beginning the Landmark was having financial problems. Construction starting in the early 1960s and the original opening year was supposed to be 1967. That unfortunately didn't happen and in 1968 Howard Hughes would buy the property for $17 million and an additional $3 million that were needed for refurbishing the guest rooms along with maintenance equipment etc. Hughes would make sure that the Landmark was going to open as it should and it did finally on July 1st of 1969. Opening night was a hit, so much so that there were constant traffic jams at Paradise and Convention Center Dr. People had been watching it get built for years and couldn't wait to go inside to finally check it out. It originally had two casino floors. One on the ground floor and an additional casino on the 27th/29th floors. There was a golden spiral staircase that lead you to that casino. The Landmark was seen in the background of many movies/TV shows such as Viva Las Vegas, Diamonds are Forever, Mars Attacks!, VEGA$ and more. Hughes Tool Company changed its name to Summa Corporation and then years later it was sold to a group of investors from the Midwest. They did well, but it didn't take long for the SEC to figure out that something was up. One of them was caught with over $32 million in embezzlements and shortly after they didn't have anything to the with the Landmark anymore. On January 2nd of 1990, the Landmark filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy after Morris' gaming license lapsed when the resort was $500,000 behind in taxes and penalties. There was an interested party thinking about buying the Landmark, but after an over two hour court hearing no bids were made on the property and within an hour of that hearing Gaming Control board agents arrived at the Landmark to oversee the shutting down of tables games. After closing the Landmark was seen with advertising banners along the tower for the COMDEX show in 1992 and was used in the 1994 film, Casino. Today the Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall occupies that space that the Landmark and Riviera once used to. It's a 1.4 million sq ft expansion to the original Convention Center and it includes 150,000 sq ft of dedicated meeting space and 600,000 sq ft of exhibit space. I hope you all enjoyed!

Please share your memories below so we can all look back on the amazing Landmark!

Here's the link:

 

[Okku]

Today we quickly talk about the Heritage "Higher Roller" Casino Chip auction that is going to be live the day this video goes live. There are some absolutely beautiful vintage chips that are a part of this auction and some chips that many people have never seen in person. A few stand outs are the Bugsy Era Flamingo $5, Frontier $100 and $25, Dunes $100, Milton Prell's Aladdin $25 SmCrown, Sands $5 Arodie, Hotel Sahara $5 SmKey, 1st edition Stardust SmKey $100 and many more. There are some GEMS in this auction and the new owners of these chips are going to be adding once in a lifetime chips to their collections. I'll be looking to see what some of the chips close at and I'll be making mental notes of them. Hope you enjoy!

Here's the link:

 

[Okku]

Today we quickly talk about the new bill that was presented targeted to shut down poker clubs in Texas. This comes after the Watauga Social Poker Club was raided on October 10th of 2022 in the middle of their Fall Classic Poker $420 buy-in, $100k GTD Main Event. Players were fined $360 and at least half a dozen staff members being arrested and booked into the county jail. Other poker clubs have had similar situations happen which isn't good. The bill would call these clubs "private residences" and the government is trying to close the loophole that these clubs have been using to stay open. They are said to be "private clubs" which means it isn't open to the public, it isn't a home game and members pay a daily, monthly or yearly membership to play at these establishments. In the last year or two the game of poker has absolutely boomed in the state of Texas. Bringing in tons of action and money to these rooms and boosting the economy. Along with that, tons of publicity on YouTube with vloggers like Doug Polk, Brad Owen and Andrew Neeme among others. I think Texas needs to take a second look at this and rethink how they could actually use poker rooms and casinos to boost their economy to be larger than it is now. Take notes from other states and implement it into their own. Hope you enjoy!

Here's the link:

 

[Okku]

Today is the third episode of The Chip List, a series in which we look at the most recent eBay auctions to see what rare chips or lots have popped up and what they've sold for. We've got some pretty special chips in this episode which include a Leo Kind $20 chip, Dunes Baccarat $5, some Royal Flush TRKs and more! Things you don't see everyday and some chips that sold for much less than I was expecting. Will we continue to see some rare chips popping up or are things going to slow down? I hope not!

Here's the link:

 

[Okku]

Today we talk about the "French roulette" jetons that were used at the Paris Casino in Las Vegas for a short period of time. I believe they were originally introduced in 1999 and the table/jetons and plaques were only in use for a few months. This was something that normally isn't offered in Las Vegas or the United States. Very few casinos have had plaques and jetons in use. Only about 4 casinos that I can think of have had them and they are the Sands, Sahara, MGM Grand and Paris. I don't believe any other casinos have had any, but I may be wrong. The Paris jetons go from $5 all the way up to $1000. $1000 and $500 being the hardest ones to find. There are 3 versions of each; solid, three stripes and 4 half-circle edge spots. Some are more sought after than others, but they are all in high demand. Something if you don't have in your collection I highly recommend you trying to get at least one. Most people don't know that these casinos had these items in use and it can be a fun card guard, talking piece or just amazing piece of a collection. Hope you enjoy!

Here's the link:

 

[Okku]

Today we talk about the difference between the many different versions of the Kings Crown casino chips that were made in 1966 and then later throughout the existence of TR King. The Kings Crown was originally supposed to open in 1966, but never got approved for a gaming license by the Nevada Gaming Commission. That meant that all the chips, layouts, gaming equipment and everything never got to the place. They were all brand new which I've only ever seen the chips, but that leaves some wondering where the rest of the stuff went. The artwork was created by TR King so with it never opening meant that TR King was open to using it for whatever they wanted to. If there was a customer that wanted a set of Kings Crown chips that was possible and they made tons of different versions over the years. The main difference between the real and fake/fantasy chips is the style of inlay. The real chips all have shaped inlays whereas the fantasy chips have all circle inlays. They also had hot stamped fracs, but I've never seen those ever, maybe only one. Into the 1980s-early 2000s there were many orders made from customer for Kings Crown tribute chips. Most of the ones throughout the early 2000s before TR King closed were hot stamped chips. These were for cash games and tournament games which most have probably been posted onto Chiptalk, but with that no longer available, it's very hard to find pictures. I've spent hours looking on PokerChipForum, but have only found a handful of pictures which I was blown away by. I'm lucky to have a sample set of colors that were made from that time along with a few hot stamped denom chips. Hope you enjoy!

Here's the link:

 

[Okku]

Today we quickly talk about the new chips that the Horseshoe Las Vegas is using. They are 39mm RHC chips with similar artwork to all of the other Horseshoe Gaming casinos that have been around the US like Cincinnati, Cleveland and more. To me, they are pretty boring chips considering they are RHC, but that seems to be the thing that most casinos are going after now a days. I'm hoping to see them move back to standard H&C someday, hopefully. One other thing that I wanted to talk about was the very close $100s that the Horseshoe has compared to the Jumer's secondary $100. These chips are basically identical and something that I wasn't expecting to see. This could be trouble for GPI, but I wanted to talk about it to maybe shed some light on the topic. Hope you enjoy!

Here's the link:

 

[Okku]

I just wanted to thank everyone for what an amazing year it has been. I hope that everyone else has had as good of a year. Everyone that has watched my videos, left a comment, whether we've talked online or in person whatever it may be, everyone has left a mark on me. I learned so much this year about myself and all of the things that I'm interested in, I got accepted into my school's Graphic Design program which was HUGE, got stellar grades and just kicked some ass so I'm very proud of myself. Time to do the same in 2023, but in a larger way!

 

[Okku]

Today we talk about the Crystal Park Secondary casino chips that were made, but never made it to the casino. There is something different between these and standard Paulsons that I've seen. These CP chips have some weird dimple texture across the faces, the H&C is recessed and does not have this texture and the edges are printed onto the chip. I have NEVER seen this on Paulson chips before so it caught me off guard when I first saw these. Additionally all of the chips are cancelled because they most likely never made it to the casino. "Crystal Park Casino in Los Angeles was open for a few months and was shut down by the state." That's very interesting. Many of the primary chips I've seen are very nice, they feature the same style oversized inlays (I guess we can call them), but they edges are NOT printed onto the chip. The outer rim is normal, but the center feature the same style of printed faces up about half way through the H&C. These are the only chips from Paulson I have seen done this way. They are all light, not leaded from my understanding, and are much different. The secondary chips are quite slippery because of the texture and probably the starburst stamp on the faces too. So, this is something completely new to me, hope you guys enjoy!

Here's the link:

 

[The Chip Spa]

Why didn't you just ask uncle Danny how to easily remove the stamp?? Alcohol??? Naaaa @Okku

 

[Okku]

Why didn't you just ask uncle Danny how to easily remove the stamp?? Alcohol??? Naaaa @Okku

I wanted to try it out myself and see what happens. I know you've got the secret sauce

 

[Okku]

Today we are doing a part 2 to the "Most INSANE TR King Casino Chips Sets Ever!". In today's episode we talk about some Kings Crown hot stamped sets, some of the sets that I mentioned in my Kings Crown video from the other week, some Nevada Club sets, a Money Tree set and more! This one is a good one so I hope you guys enjoy. This is all made up of hours and hours of sitting on PCF and looking at these sets. I could do it for days, but I'm not sure if I'd ever get anything done at that point. Let me know which one was your favorite and let's share this with everyone!! I'm going to start looking into other manufacturers too like Paulson, Bud Jones, Matsui, Abbiati and more here in the near future. I think that would be a very fun idea.

Here's the link:

 

[Okku]

Today we talk about some interesting auctions that sold on eBay for the holiday weekend of New Years and some over Christmas! Some crazy prices that I was not expecting to see especially for the Fitzgeralds TRK sample set from the "Fitzgeralds Hoard". Along with that there were some nicer seldom seen chips like a Chick's Club 50c, Mickeys 10c and 50c, Cactus Pete's plain mold roulette and more. Really enjoying seeing some of the harder to find stuff pop up on eBay and hope everyone had an amazing New Years. I'm planning on creating a best of 2022 video that I should have up by the end of the week! Thank you guys so much for all of the support throughout 2022 and let's continue having fun!

Here's the link:

 

[Okku]

Today we talk about the new upcoming changes coming to the Mirage Casino in Las Vegas. The Mirage was bought for nearly $1.1 billion. It will be the first hotel/casino on the strip to be run by a Native American Tribe. The theme and look will be the similar to the other Hard Rock casinos that are located across the US and the world with resorts in Biloxi, Lake Tahoe, Tampa, Hollywood, Gary Indiana and more. The original building will be staying for now, but they are planning on revamping the whole interior and of course slightly changing the outside. The Guitar Hotel is planned to be about 700 feet tall nearly as tall as the Fontainebleau Tower. The hotel will also feature an infinity-edge rooftop pool. I'm most interested in the chips like many others. Hopefully they'll be better than the Horseshoe chips and feature different styles of guitars! Hope you enjoy!

Here's the link:

 

[Okku]

Today we quickly talk about how there was recently a Diamond Jim's Jackpot NV chip hoard found and posted online. The hoard was found by a user on PokerChipForum as they were inherited from their grandparents. After the user found a bit more information they said that their grandparents used to be friends with the owner of Diamond Jim's, who after the casino closed left the chips with the user's grandparents. It's basically an almost perfect cash set to play with on a small table. The set consists of 1 rack of $1s, 3 racks of $5s and about 45 of the $25s. These aren't the more expensive version of these chips, but they are still quite expensive and not something you see regularly. The $25s are the real money here as they normally sell for around $80-100 per chip. Such an awesome find and something that I would love to own as I have a soft spot for older vintage chips. SO COOL! Hope you enjoy!

Here's the link:

 

[Okku]

Today we'll be talking about the Midway Chuck Wagon that was located in San Diego, California from the years of 1956 up until the 1980s. It was said to be an "all you can eat" buffet style eatery and could be found at 2855 Midway Street. I've had some trouble finding information about this place, but I've dug deep and was able to find some stuff that I wanted to share with you. The owner was Yale Kahn and Kahn was someone that was well known around the San Diego area. Along side the Midway Chuck Wagon, Yale Kahn ran Top's Nightclub, Texas Liquor Houses, the Roaring 20's Nightclub on Fletcher Parkway, a Nightclub in the Clairmont Bowl and Bradley's (restaurant and nightclub). The Midway Chuck Wagon was one of his most popular venues in San Diego and that's because of the Gaslamp Room. The Gaslamp Room was home to performing acts like Louis Prima, Billy Daniels, Shelly Berman, Mort Saul and Dr. Dean along with others. Inside the Midway Chuck Wagon you could find yourself eating in the main dining room, the Longbranch Saloon, Fireside Room, Calico Room and the Gaslamp/Gaslight Room. It was furnished like an old saloon style bar and restaurant that was fitting for any family wanting to take their kids to eat. In 1967, you could get yourself an all you can eat lunch for $1.09, that included beverages and a dessert. NOW imagine that! That must have been absolutely delicious. Around that same time it was about $3.49 for a dinner and then later increased to $3.99. For a college student back then it would have been a lot, but considering it was all you can eat I'm not sure you could go wrong at that point. The restaurant itself was said to have very nice tablecloths and burgundy booths. Along with the food and exciting environment that the Midway Chuck Wagon offered, they also had chips made which most people probably didn't know about. Of which some were recently found and they were found in Las Vegas. The owner's grandpa used to be one of the managers there in the 60s. I'm not 100% sure about the history about these chips and I'm always trying to learn from others, but haven't been able to find any information about how they were given away or who got them. I did read on TheChipBoard that they were possibly given out to performing acts or the movie production crews that were filming around the building. That or they could have been given to guests when they enjoyed themselves or those that stopped in regularly, that's all information I'm still trying to gather, but maybe someone out there knows how they were given out and more information. The Midway Chuck Wagon was a HIT in San Diego and did very well for the time that it was there. I'm sure many have fond memories of visiting the place, eating the food and enjoying the environment with family. I'd love to hear more stories if anyone has any because is just fascinates me and I'm sure it would bring back the good days!

Here's the link and some pr0n :