Stolen Playboy Casino Chips Worth $60K Denied Redemption

A New Jersey appellate court has ruled against a man attempting to cash in nearly $60,000 worth of chips from the long-defunct Playboy Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, determining they were stolen property never meant for circulation. Keith Hawkins purchased 389 chips worth $59,500 through an online auction in 2022, only to discover they were “pilfered” decades ago by an employee who was supposed to destroy them, according to AP News.

Hawkins attempted to redeem the chips in January 2023 through New Jersey’s Unclaimed Property Administration (UPA), which had been tasked with covering the redemption value of outstanding chips when the casino closed in 1984. The chips, featuring the iconic Playboy bunny logo, would have represented a significant windfall had his claim been successful.

The UPA rejected Hawkins’ claim in June 2023, determining the chips had never been issued to casino patrons during normal operations – a prerequisite for redemption. Hawkins appealed the decision, arguing the UPA acted arbitrarily and without sufficient evidence, but the appellate court upheld the rejection on April 1, 2025.

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The Bunny Trail: How Stolen Chips Resurfaced

New Jersey State Police investigators uncovered a fascinating backstory while examining Hawkins’ claim. When the Playboy Casino closed its doors after just three years of operation, management hired a company to destroy all unused chips. However, around 1990, a former employee of that destruction company illicitly took “several boxes of unused chips” and stored them in a bank deposit box.

According to the investigation, the employee later declared bankruptcy and reportedly forgot about the hidden cache. The bank eventually drilled open the neglected safe deposit box in 2010, confiscated the chips, and later transferred them to an auction house where Hawkins purchased them in 2022.

When questioned by authorities, Hawkins maintained he had no knowledge of the chips’ problematic origins when he acquired them through the online auction. Nevertheless, the court determined that their illicit provenance disqualified them from redemption.

Legal Gambling on Ill-Gotten Gains?

The core of the legal dispute centered on a 1991 court ruling which established that cash redemption is only available for chips that were legitimately issued during normal casino operations. Since these chips were meant for destruction rather than gambling use, they fell outside redemption eligibility.

“The appellant is not entitled to the funds he seeks because he did not present chips that had been issued by the casino,” the appellate panel stated in their decision, effectively ending Hawkins’ attempt to cash in on his auction purchase.

According to 6ABC Philadelphia, the rules are clear: only chips from actual casino play can be redeemed, meaning Hawkins’ stacks of chips must remain merely collectable keepsakes rather than a financial windfall.

Last Call: Account Closure Ends Redemption Era

The timing of Hawkins’ redemption attempt proved particularly unfortunate. Just one month after he tried to cash in his chips in 2023, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission permanently closed an $875,000 account established for gamblers and former employees to redeem chips from the Playboy casino and its renamed successors, the Atlantis Casino Hotel and Elsinore’s Atlantic.

Chris Rebuck, then director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming, explained the account was closed specifically to prevent fraudulent claims. The decision came partly in response to an unrelated 2008 discovery in Mississippi, where thousands of Playboy casino chips were found buried under a concrete slab at a construction site.

“At this time, any such chips are most likely to have been obtained by gift, inheritance, or sale from the secondary market,” Rebuck stated when announcing the account closure, as reported by PhillyVoice.

From Playboy to Trump: The Property’s Storied Past

The Playboy Hotel and Casino represented Hugh Hefner’s brief foray into Atlantic City’s gambling scene, operating from 1981 to 1984 before being sold. The property underwent multiple transformations afterward, eventually becoming Trump’s World Fair under Donald Trump’s ownership before being demolished in 2000.

The Playboy casino was one of four Hefner-branded gambling establishments worldwide, with locations in Las Vegas, London, and the Bahamas – all of which have since closed. The brand’s brief presence in Atlantic City has made authentic Playboy casino memorabilia particularly sought after by collectors.

Ironically, the 2008 Mississippi discovery flooded the market with Playboy chips, drastically reducing their collectible value. Nevertheless, some of the rarer Playboy casino chips continue to command hundreds of dollars on auction sites – though clearly not at face value from New Jersey regulators.

For Hawkins, the court’s decision means his $59,500 in chips now hold only collector’s value – likely far less than what he paid at auction and certainly less than their printed denomination. His legal gamble, like many in Atlantic City’s casinos, ultimately failed to pay out.

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