PLAYBOY CHIPS WILL NOT BE REDEEMED

Keith Hawkins thought he'd hit the jackpot. Nearly three years ago, he bought almost $60,000 worth of decades-old poker chips from the short-lived, long-shuttered Playboy Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, planning to trade them in with New Jersey officials for cash.

But a state appellate court ruled last week that his bet won't pay off. The two-judge panel of the New Jersey Superior Court's Appellate Division decided that, since the poker chips were supposed to have been destroyed after the casino closed in the mid-1980s, officials don't have to pay him from the fund set up to compensate gamblers with outstanding poker chips.

The ruling stymies Hawkins, 36, of Mooresboro, North Carolina, who for more than two years has been trying to get a five-figure payout from state officials. But state officials said that, since the casino had never put the chips worth $59,500 into circulation, they were not obligated to pay Hawkins's claim. A contractor improperly kept the poker chips decades ago instead of destroying them.

Hawkins's journey started in November 2022, when he paid $16,050 to an online seller for 389 poker chips with a face value of $59,500. On May 5, 2023, he tried to redeem them with the state's Unclaimed Property Administration. As part of its closure, the Playboy Hotel and Casino seeded a UPA fund to cover the cost of its chips still in circulation.

The poker chips offer a glimpse into Playboy's high-rolling ambitions nearly a half-century ago. In 1981, Playboy Enterprises opened a 500-room hotel casino as Atlantic City aimed to transform itself into a gambling hub rivaling Las Vegas, the New York Times reported at the time.

For three years, the casino, which cost $135 million (or $485 million when adjusted for inflation), was an embodiment of the Playboy aura. Gamblers had their pick of 121 table games and nearly 1,300 slot machines spread over 52,600 square feet and three floors, all with a view of the ocean. Cocktail waitresses dressed in bunny costumes bounced around the casino floor. The iconic Playboy bunny logo was splashed everywhere, most prominently atop the gleaming, 20-plus-story high rise shooting up from the Jersey Shore like a giant mirror.

Playboy's big bet on Atlantic City went bust in 1984.

Nearly 40 years later, Hawkins filed his claim to cash in the casino's chips, sparking an investigation by New Jersey State Police.

To read the complete article, see:
A man sought $60K for old poker chips. A court said he's out of luck. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/04/10/playboy-poker-chips-new-jersey/)

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