Poker Forum

To my knowledge Paulson poker chips are solid clay and do not have an ingot in the middle of them. The small amount of lead that was used was mixed in with the clay formula to add weight from my understanding.

I'll look in to that, davejs1671, but I think that's just a semantic distinction in the way "ingot" is used. Think of "ingot" as core. Even if "solid clay" — though that's really clay infused with lead, and not plain "clay" at all — the chips must have a paint/sealant/whatever exterior. That leaves the interior, the ingot, which is what this refers to. You are correct, though: the higher the lead content, the heavier the chip, at least in this reference. I tweaked one word to clarify this.

When it comes to Paulson chips I have to disagree with Hintze. These are clay chips all the way through without being painted or a sealant. The only "sealant" used are the inlays at either end. There really is no ingot in these chips as you can see in this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGCfzVn2cnk

If there's any lead used to create colors it would be infused in the clay itself. There's little to no chance of you ingesting any of that lead since the chips are solid.

Can't tell much from that video other than that is indeed a composite chip, BloodyMarvelous. No way of knowing how old that chip is or whether the standards used for that were the same as for American chips. YouTube is not a news source.

I've uncovered a bit more about the chips' composition as I continue to research. According to a blog posting by Bill Burton late last year:

"By 2002 [GPI's] chips had an average lead content of about .5 percent by weight and it is now about .003 percent, said Gaming Partners' chief executive officer, Gerard Charlier. A handful of the more than 70 'edge spot' colors used to create chips unique to each casino had a lead content of nearly 50 percent in 2002 but were reformulated and by 2006 the lead was removed, Charlier said."
(Source: http://casinogambling.about.com/b/2007/12/04/concerns-about-lead-in-casino-chips.htm)

From a chemical perspective, the infusion process (a fancy word for blending), must leave lead present on the surface of the chip in microscopic form unless a surface coat, even something like a light matte finish, is used. Even though the lead could also be chemically locked in, it seems it would be subject to minute dislodging — in admittedly microscopic amounts, and likely as a lead/clay matrix particulate — over time, as the chips themselves endured surface wear. Chips, though, don't tend to be dusty. More like grimy and full of cold and flu germs.

Your assertion, though, is too broad. Chances are we all ingest the tiniest, tiniest amount of lead by handling chips that include lead in even small amounts, but the amount is -so- small that even over extended time, it's simply not measurable.

The other issue here is how long a given chip is in use at a particular casino, which would likely be measured in years. So, with that in mind, there could very well be a lot of older chips with the higher lead-content dyes still in circulation, and that the "agreement" is designed to get those oldest chips out of circulation. That, though, is nothing but speculation — no news source that I saw detailed it in that manner.