Okku's Historical Casino Videos & Random Fun Stuff (9 Viewers)

[Okku]

Wow. Utterly amazing find. Great work on your part, and from everyone on the ChipBoard! That's such a beautiful chip, such great condition, so good-looking, and what a history behind it.

Thanks for sharing it with us!

Thanks! This past week has been so much fun and like I said, I've doubted the power of the internet so many times. It's amazing what a group of people can do and find new things out together.

 

[Okku]

Very cool. Nice find & detective work.

Thank you sir!! Hope you've been doing well!

 

[Okku]

Hope everyone has been doing well! Today's video is about the Desert Spa casino which was located in Las Vegas from around 1947/1948 until around 1958/1959. It originally opened up as a motel in the late 40s and would then have the opportunity to get transformed into a casino by a group of owners. They had two sets of chips one being the Langworthy Rectangle mold chips and the second set was the TR King company small crown chips which are my favorite versions of these chips. There was a bunch of behind the scenes stuff going on at the Desert Spa which not only delayed their process of getting a gaming license but then would ultimately lead into some big trouble. It would unfortunately go down pretty quickly after it got up and running because of financial trouble as well as trouble with different owners owing others money, plus getting sued multiple times. Aside from the negatives they had tons of shows and smaller local events happening there. I wonder what kind of an impact it could have made to Vegas if it would have been open longer. Today it's the site of a strip mall across the street from the Encore and Resorts World where you can find Tacos El Gordo as well as other shops! I hope you guys enjoy this video and maybe we can find some more information about it here in the near future! Have a wonderful day!

Got inspired to make this video a few months ago but never got around to it and after seeing @Windwalker get a few more racks of these yesterday it wanted me to finally make it.

Here's the link:

 

[CrazyEddie]

Windwalker's secret identity finally revealed - it's Oscar!

 

[Okku]

Windwalker's secret identity finally revealed - it's Oscar!

Maaaan I wish!!

 

[Okku]

You guys know I love my TRK chips.... right?? Well if you didn't know by my profile picture on here or if you didn't watch my collection video, recently I have found a soft spot for TRK chips. There is just something about them that's amazing, the inlays, hot stamps, colors, unique fonts, denominations, artwork and everything about them is simply amazing. I can say that they have very quickly become my favorite chips ever that have been produced and I'll keep collecting them until I can't anymore haha. I hope you guys enjoy today's video and have an amazing rest of your weekend!

Here's the link:

 

[Okku]

You guys know I love my TRK chips.... right?? Well if you didn't know by my profile picture on here or if you didn't watch my collection video, recently I have found a soft spot for TRK chips. There is just something about them that's amazing, the inlays, hot stamps, colors, unique fonts, denominations, artwork and everything about them is simply amazing. I can say that they have very quickly become my favorite chips ever that have been produced and I'll keep collecting them until I can't anymore haha. I hope you guys enjoy today's video and have an amazing rest of your weekend!

Here's the link:

Let's tag some of the largest TRK collectors we know!! I know a few off the top of my head @Lil Tuna @pacmartine @Windwalker @liftapint @PAZ @gopherblue @Starchy @MaxB @ReallyGoodUsername @Brandon @HaRDHouSeiNC @41Pickup @JWC @AfterTheFact hmm who else....

 

[Lil Tuna]

You guys know I love my TRK chips.... right?? Well if you didn't know by my profile picture on here or if you didn't watch my collection video, recently I have found a soft spot for TRK chips. There is just something about them that's amazing, the inlays, hot stamps, colors, unique fonts, denominations, artwork and everything about them is simply amazing. I can say that they have very quickly become my favorite chips ever that have been produced and I'll keep collecting them until I can't anymore haha. I hope you guys enjoy today's video and have an amazing rest of your weekend!

Here's the link:

Love the passion Oscar! You’ve got excellent tastes! I agree with you very much on the Reno TRKs, lots of great chips from several casinos seem to have come out of Reno and Tahoe area.
Been really busy with some things lately but I always enjoy catching one of your videos.

Keep up the great work and stay passionate my friend. It’s inspiring to see!
Best,
Tuna

 

[Okku]

Love the passion Oscar! You’ve got excellent tastes! I agree with you very much on the Reno TRKs, lots of great chips from several casinos seem to have come out of Reno and Tahoe area.
Been really busy with some things lately but I always enjoy catching one of your videos.

Keep up the great work and stay passionate my friend. It’s inspiring to see!
Best,
Tuna

Thanks man! That means a lot!!

 

[Okku]

Hope everyone has been doing well this week! Been busy with school work but we're back to the videos again. Today we'll be talking about Harolds Club which if you know Reno, you know Harolds Club. It was known as "The Friendliest Club", Pappy Smith and the whole Smith family made you feel at home and used to walk around greeting everyone. They even would play and gamble with you! It originally opened in 1935 when it as just the Smith family and their wives as employees. Harolds Club would become the first to introduce multiple different games to Reno as well as introducing female dealers in the early 40s when troops were getting deployed to WWII. It was the main place for the filming of the 1955 movie "5 Against the House" and even had a parking garage at the time. Pappy Smith was able to make it so successful by advertising as much as possible using their slogan "Harolds Club or Bust" which can be seen on ashtrays and other items. They even had $500 & $1000 chips back in the 50s which in today's money is something like $4.7-$5k. I hope you all enjoy the video and have an amazing rest of your day!

Here's the link:

 

[Chipton]

Hope everyone has been doing well this week! Been busy with school work but we're back to the videos again. Today we'll be talking about Harolds Club which if you know Reno, you know Harolds Club. It was known as "The Friendliest Club", Pappy Smith and the whole Smith family made you feel at home and used to walk around greeting everyone. They even would play and gamble with you! It originally opened in 1935 when it as just the Smith family and their wives as employees. Harolds Club would become the first to introduce multiple different games to Reno as well as introducing female dealers in the early 40s when troops were getting deployed to WWII. It was the main place for the filming of the 1955 movie "5 Against the House" and even had a parking garage at the time. Pappy Smith was able to make it so successful by advertising as much as possible using their slogan "Harolds Club or Bust" which can be seen on ashtrays and other items. They even had $500 & $1000 chips back in the 50s which in today's money is something like $4.7-$5k. I hope you all enjoy the video and have an amazing rest of your day!

Here's the link:

Another great video. Thanks for the history, Oscar.

 

[Okku]

Another great video. Thanks for the history, Oscar.

Thanks!!

 

[bigblind]

great videos

 

[TheDuke]

Thoroughly enjoyed your videos.

I now know more about Bob Stupak. I remember first hearing about him and seeing him on an early season of High Stakes Poker. I remember thinking who's this old fossil? Man, what a legendary figure of Vegas. What a dumb noob I was (still am).

 

[Okku]

great videos

Thanks!

 

[Okku]

Today we talk about a smaller casino that was located in Vegas. The Lotus Inn Motor Hotel & Casino was open from 1973 until 1978 and it was located at 1213 Las Vegas Blvd South. It boasted a Asian theme on the inside and outside similar to the Imperial Palace which would open a year after the Lotus Inn would close. Being that the Lotus Inn was a smaller place I believe they only had a few blackjack tables and slot machines. You could find $5 and $25 chips as well as a $1 Free Play NCV token/lammer. The $5 chip that I've seen in person was almost brand new so it makes me wonder if the chips got used much or if the clientele that the Lotus Inn attracted weren't the "gaming type". They also had all kinds of free perks with the rooms and your stay which was awesome to see.

Here's the link to learn more:

 

[Okku]

Hey everyone! Hope you are all doing well! Today I made a video talking about how to identify fake, commemorative home use or re-made casino chips. Things that I thought a new collector might not know about and some information that they might find useful. I know that when I first got into it, these things were unknown to m but having been in this for a while now I can tell a real from a fake quickly. If you know of anyone that is new to collecting share this with them! Have an amazing Sunday.

Here's the link to the video:

 

[Okku]

Hey everyone! Hope your morning is going well so far and your weekend was amazing. Today we talk about George's Gateway Club which was located in Lake Tahoe from the years of 1949 until 1955. It was opened by George Canon who was an ex-navy member. He also worked and owned a few clubs in California before ultimately taking down his Quonset Club in Colfax and took it to Nevada to open the Gateway Club. I believe it was one of the first casinos on Highway 50 and would later be joined by casinos like Harvey's Wagon Wheel, Dopey Norman's and more! It seemed to be a family run casino which could be a reason that it was popular and George tried his best to advertise and promote Lake Tahoe as a year round vacation spot. At one point during the 4th of July in 1953, more than a million dollars went through the cage in slot machine and table fills. I want to give a big thanks to Steve Passalacqua for writing his article about George's Gateway Club in 1998 because it's where I got a majority of this information. I hope you all enjoy the video and have an amazing day!!

Here's the link:

 

[Okku]

Today I talk to you guys about what I'm most excited about the 2021 Chip Show at South Point here in Las Vegas, Nevada and what I'm looking for when I'm there. It'll mainly be TRK or T.R. King Co chips and Paulsons but you never know what you can find. Also the great conversations and getting to meet those who watch the videos and new people! Can't wait...

You can watch it here:

 

[Okku]

Hello everyone hope you are all doing well and your morning is going well! Today we talk about the Aviation Club de France which was located in Paris from the years of 1907 until 2014. It originally opened in 1907 as a very prestigious and private club only for aviators, hence the name. Into the 20s they only let in the elegant and well-educated to play. They had used the original style jetons and plaques before moving into the "mother of pearl" jetons/plaques and then into today's style chips with some coming from Paulson and Bourgogne et Grasset. It wouldn't be into the 70s-80s and 90s that the club would start to get worldwide attention. It would start hosting Paris's leg of the WPT tour and it would be a mega hit! Today it is no longer there but the same location is home to Le Club Barriere 104 Champs Elysées.

Didn't want to de-rail or post this into @Windwalker thread without his permission so I'll post it here for now. We can share it more throughout the thread soon!

Hope you enjoy the video! Here's the link:

 

[Okku]

I know that when I got into chips it was hard to understand the different molds that chips have been manufactured on. Although doing your own research is a great way to learn why not make videos about it, making it a little easier to understand. That's what I'm going to be doing with this new series I'll be starting on my channel. I just simply show the mold itself, give a little background history and show how to easily identify them. In this first video I went over the most popular or most common molds that you see on chips. Those being the Paulson H&C, Paulson House mold, Small and Large Crown molds as well as the Small & Large Key molds. I'm sure these videos will be great for people that are just getting into the casino chip collecting hobby and I hope they will help people out. Please let me know what you guys think and maybe anything that I could improve on! Have an amazing day!

Here's the link:

 

[Okku]

Have you been trying to find chips from the New China Club, Mapes, Money Tree, Riverside and other places from Reno that had TRK stuff and you can't find anything anymore? Well that's what we are talking about today! Where have all the chips gone, what's the hype behind them and why everyone wants them. I totally understand why they aren't on the market too much and it's because they are very historical chips, they are leaded TRKs and they are just amazing. I know because I have a few which I'd love to have more, if there were some on the market!! Anyways this was a little more of a fun video which I really enjoyed making! Hope you guys all have an amazing day and I'll see you later!

@Lil Tuna @pacmartine @Ben8257 @Windwalker @liftapint @gopherblue @AfterTheFact @HaRDHouSeiNC.
Tag anyone else you know that has any of these goodies!!

Here's the link:

 

[Okku]

So I may be doing something that most people would not recommend but I'm going ALL IN on Dogecoin, especially because of what is happening this weekend! I'm all about crypto, investing to have your money work for you and the benefits that it can bring. I remember everyone saying that dogecoin was going to be anything at 1-5 cents but now we are reaching close to $1! That is insane and I'm so excited about it.

Here's the link to watch:

 

[Okku]

Hope everyone had an amazing weekend! It's my last week of school for this semester so I'm pretty hyped about that. To start off the week let's talk about more chip molds. In this episode I cover the Arrowdie, Horshu, Christy and Jones H&C, T-Mold and Rectangle molds. All of which are pretty "old school" and some of the most unique molds that are out there. A majority of these were used from the 50s up until the 70s and then a few used up until the 2000s. All of them have a nice story behind them by different manufacturers and I'm sure you have most likely seen them before.

Here's the link, enjoy!:

 

[Okku]

Hey everyone! Hope you guys have been doing amazing! So glad that the semester is over in time for summer vacation. I did very well which I'm very happy about and it just means that next semester I have to keep doing the same thing! I'm very thankful for such amazing people in the chipping community that do things for others so they are able to enjoy things that they would always love to have. I just got these amazing TRKs with the monogram "MM" or "WW" depending on which was you look at it. Amazing very very good condition chips that were probably apart of someone's custom home set that they had ordered directly from TR King Co. back in the day. I've only probably seen the "salmon" color on Nevada Club roulette chips and the "teal" color the closest I've probably seen are Eldorado Club $1 chips from Gardena so they are some awesome colors to have! I keep saying big thanks to @Windwalker but seriously big thanks to him for doing the things he is here on PCF. Showing us amazing chips, sets, sharing his journey, knowledge and doing the sales he does. Here are the "MM"/"WW" TRK chips that are now apart of my TRK collection, enjoy. Linked below will be my unboxing video if you'd like to watch and get my thoughts on these and maybe give me some insight on what to do with these in the future.

 

[chicubs1988]

Hope everyone has been doing well this week! Been busy with school work but we're back to the videos again. Today we'll be talking about Harolds Club which if you know Reno, you know Harolds Club. It was known as "The Friendliest Club", Pappy Smith and the whole Smith family made you feel at home and used to walk around greeting everyone. They even would play and gamble with you! It originally opened in 1935 when it as just the Smith family and their wives as employees. Harolds Club would become the first to introduce multiple different games to Reno as well as introducing female dealers in the early 40s when troops were getting deployed to WWII. It was the main place for the filming of the 1955 movie "5 Against the House" and even had a parking garage at the time. Pappy Smith was able to make it so successful by advertising as much as possible using their slogan "Harolds Club or Bust" which can be seen on ashtrays and other items. They even had $500 & $1000 chips back in the 50s which in today's money is something like $4.7-$5k. I hope you all enjoy the video and have an amazing rest of your day!

Here's the link:

I love me some Harold’s Club

 

[Okku]

I love me some Harold’s Club
View attachment 704808View attachment 704809

Those are sweet!

 

[Okku]

Today we talk about an early club that was located in Las Vegas's Historic Westside, the Cotton Club. It was open from the years of 1945 until 1957. It originally opened as a small bar, but later got a gaming license to have quite a few tables games as well as keno. It was located at 500 Jackson Street and today is the home of the True Vine Baptist Church. They only had 3 chips that have been recorded and we have chip order cards for being a $5 and $10 TRK and then a Langworthy Co Rectangle $5 Yellow with 3 red edge spots. These chips tend to be pretty pricey considering the rarity of them as well as the history of the Cotton Club. I'd love to go talk a walk around Jackson St here in the near future and take you guys along with to show what the area looks like now and we can think about what it must have been like around there in the 50-60s.

Here's the link if you'd like to watch, enjoy:

 

[Okku]

Hey everyone! For those of you who are visiting from out of state or country for the 2021 CCA Convention at the South Point I made a video overviewing all of the new chips that have been released so far this year. If that is something you'd like to go ahead and get this video might be useful. There were some of the chips that we know about like The Pass Casino recently opened up, the Year of the Ox chips and then I was able to find some chips on the reports that I had no idea that had come out. Many of them being NCV chips, oversized and all kinds of others. Also, Golden Gate just came out with a new $1 that I forgot to mention in the video. I hope this is helpful for some of you and I hope you have an amazing day!

Here's the link, enjoy:

https://spinettisgaming.com/collect...lden-gate-casino-las-vegas-nevada-1-chip-2021

 

[Okku]

As I slowly get my first ever set built I'm feeling great with what I've been able to get so far. I was able to find everything on here (one half bought, the other was a giveaway). My main idea with this set would be to have it be a micro to semi decent cash set if some buddies would want to play. Not too sure of denoms yet although I feel like I'd want to possibly find one more color. I was thinking black! Although I've rarely seen black solids, I've seen Nevada Club roulette blacks which could be an option for sure. With everything already being hotstamped, I feel like I'd want to keep this set fully hotstamped. Then work on another set of inlay chips. Anyways, took some pictures of the set as it sits now all together. Enjoy!