New Jersey man cannot cash gaming chips from defunct casino: Ruling
NATION<br>New Jersey<br>Add Topic
New Jersey judges rule man cannot cash $59,000 in gaming chips from defunct casino<br>Fernando Cervantes Jr.USA TODAY
April 9, 2025, 6:17 p.m. ET<br>Hear this story
A New Jersey man who thought he hit the jackpot by trying to cash in thousands of dollars of gaming chips from a now-defunct casino was told by a state appellate court that his jackpot won't come after all.<br>According to a ruling from the New Jersey Appellate Division, Keith Hawkins was attempting to cash 389 gaming chips, with a value of more than $59,000, that he had bought online. The chips came from the Playboy Hotel and Casino, which used to operate in Atlantic City between 1981 and 1984.<br>After buying the chips in 2022 at an online auction, Hawkins tried to cash them out at the New Jersey State Treasury Department’s Unclaimed Property Administration in 2023. However, both the administration and the appellate court said the chips could not be redeemed.<br>"We are satisfied that the evidence in the record supports UPA’s conclusion that the chips presented by claimant were 'unissued Playboy gaming chips that were to be destroyed' and, therefore, 'ineligible for redemption,'" the ruling said.<br>Download USA TODAY's app to get to the heart of news President Trump to participate in Memorial Day observance Pressure mounts as US and Iran resume peace talks. Live war updates Kyle Busch's wife, family gather at Charlotte for emotional tribute Pope Leo urges world to 'slow down' on AI, apologizes for Church's role in slavery Newsom issues state of emergency in Garden Grove chemical crisis
A story more than four decades old<br>The story behind Hawins’ chips is one more than 40 years in the making.<br>According to the ruling, when the Playboy Casino closed its doors in 1984, it transferred its funds to the unclaimed property administration to "cover the redemption value of outstanding chips the Casino had issued to patrons while in operation."<br>When Hawkins came forward to try and redeem his chips in 2023, the New Jersey State Police were called to investigate. Officials found that a company was hired to destroy any chips that were not issued.
A former employee of the company, whose name was redacted, told the state police that he had "pilfered several boxes of unused chips 'sometime around 1990' and put them in a bank deposit box," the ruling said.<br>The same person said he declared bankruptcy years later and forgot about the bank deposit box. Then, in 2010, the bank where the chips were stored confiscated the chips after opening the deposit box.
In 2022, the chips were sent to the auction house, where Hawkins eventually bought them.<br>Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.
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