New Jersey Court Says Man Cannot Cash Chips From Closed Atlantic City Casino

Posted on: April 9, 2025, 12:16h. 

Last updated on: April 9, 2025, 10:00h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.
  • A New Jersey court has ruled against a man trying to redeem Atlantic City casino chips
  • The chips in question were from Playboy, a casino that closed more than four decades ago
  • Only chips in one’s possession at the time of a casino’s closing can be redeemed

A New Jersey court has ruled that a man who came into possession of gaming chips after the Atlantic City casino they were gambled at closed many years earlier has no legal right to redeem the chips.

Atlantic City casino chips Playboy
A vintage photograph shows the long-gone Playboy Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City. A man recently tried to redeem almost $60K in gaming chips from the Boardwalk resort that closed in 1984. (Image: Flickr)

The New Jersey Appellate Division ruled against plaintiff Keith Hawkins in his attempt to cash in 389 gaming chips from the Playboy Hotel and Casino. Hawkins admitted that he purchased the casino chips worth $59,500 through an online auction.

After receiving the casino chips in the mail, Hawkins presented them to the New Jersey Unclaimed Property Administration for redemption. A legal case ensued after Hawkins was told the gaming chips from the Playboy Casino that closed in 1984 weren’t able to be cashed in.

The Playboy Casino Hotel stood 21 floors high when it opened along the Boardwalk at Florida Ave. adjacent to Boardwalk Hall. The casino resort became the Atlantis in 1984 before filing for bankruptcy a year later.

Donald Trump bought the property in May 1989 and renamed it Trump Regency. The future president also encountered financial difficulty with the property, with its mortgage lender assuming control of the resort in 1992. Trump bought it back in June 1995 and renamed it Trump’s World Fair.

After a major renovation, it was again renamed to Trump’s World Fair at Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino. It was permanently closed in October 1999 and demolished in 2000. The land where it stood remains vacant today.

Casino Chip Cashing Has Limits 

After the Playboy closed, the company that operated it set aside funds for the Unclaimed Property Administration to handle the redemption of outstanding gaming chips. Playboy hired a third-party vendor to dispose of the gaming chips the casino held at the time of its closing.

That vendor, however, didn’t follow through on its contract. Along with a bounty of Playboy Casino chips being unearthed in Mississippi in 2008 on the property where the vendor company was headquartered, Hawkins came across a bundle of Playboy chips online in 2022.

The court case before the Appellate Division detailed that a bank safe that went unclaimed was drilled into, leading to the discovery of the Playboy chips. The bank said an employee of the vendor had allegedly stolen the tokens from his employer and put them in the safe many years earlier.

The bank gave the chips to an auction house, which sold them as collectibles to Hawkins after he was the high bidder. The legal filing didn’t specify his bid.

The Appellate Division ruled that Hawkins had no right to redeem the chips because he didn’t possess them when the Playboy shuttered. The court determined that the chips were “unissued” when the casino closed.

Atlantic City Casino Chips   

If a casino closes, you have the legal right in New Jersey to redeem the gaming chips if you possessed them before the gaming floor closed.

For example, when the Trump Taj Mahal closed in 2014, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement told the public that they had 12 months to redeem gaming vouchers but “gaming chips may be redeemed … for an unlimited period of time.”