How Do Casino Matchplay Chips and Coupons Work

Sometimes, casinos will offer matchplay chips or coupons.

But how exactly does that work?

A matchplay chip is a chip the casino gives you to incentivize you to gamble. It has no real value like a regular casino chip, it’s only good for placing a bet with.

You’re usually only allowed to use such chips on even money bets, like a bet on red or a bet on black at the roulette table.

The most popular games for accepting matchplay chips as wagers are baccarat, craps, and roulette. Here, you’ll learn more about casino matchplay chips, funbooks, and more.

What Happens When You Play a Matchplay Chip?

To play a matchplay chip, you must also bet a chip of your own of the same value. You can’t just bet a matchplay chip by itself. Also, you’ll lose the matchplay chip regardless of the bet’s outcome.

Here’s an example:

You place a $10 bet on black, and you use a $10 matchplay chip when making that bet.

If the ball lands on a black number, you’ll win $20. You’ll get to keep your $10 chip, just like you always would, but you lose the matchplay chip regardless.

If you’ve spent too much time gambling at real money online casinos, this concept won’t be too foreign to you. It’s similar to a casino bonus or a no deposit bonus offer. You can find plenty of posts on bonus offers elsewhere on our site.

Matchplay Coupons and Action Chips

What are matchplay coupons, then?

Well, they’re the same thing as matchplay chips, but they’re printed on pieces of paper instead of being a clay chip. (That should be obvious, but who knows what’s obvious anymore, right?)

What about so-called “action chips?”

These are usually promotional offers from the casino where you get more chips for your money. For example, if you find a casino offering a promotion where you get $125 in chips for $100, these are called action chips.

But they’re not exactly the same thing as regular casino chips.


If you bet an action chip and win, you get a standard chip for your winnings. The only way to get rid of an action chip is to lose a bet; you can’t cash it in like you can a regular chip.

If you’re like every other casino gambler, though, you’re going to cycle through chips winning and losing anyway.

Basically, for $100, you get $125 worth of action.

The only thing you need to remember about action chips is that you should always bet them first. If you’re betting real chips before your action chips, you’re making a big mistake because you don’t want to lose the chips that you can actually exchange for real money.

I’ve also seen action chips referred to as “non-negotiable” or “non-neg chips.” I’ve also seen them referred to as “dead chips.”

Matchplay Chips and Hedging Your Bets With an Accomplice

The easiest way to get a mental handle on how matchplay chips work is to think about what would happen if you and an accomplice each take the opposite side of a bet.

For example, you might bet $50 on black along with a $50 matchplay chip. If you win, you get $100 in winnings.

Your accomplice could bet $75 on red. This will hedge against your losses if you don’t get black.

Unless one of the two green numbers come up, you’re guaranteed a $25 profit between the two of you either way.

You could use this same “hedge bet” strategy with baccarat by betting $50 on the player and having your accomplice bet $75 on the banker.


Or you could bet $50 on the pass line in craps and have your accomplice bet $75 on the don’t pass line.

You should note that none of these “hedge your bets” strategies work 100% of the time. These aren’t guaranteed money-making strategies because the house always has a mathematical edge.

For example, in baccarat, if there’s a tie, you and your accomplice both lose your bets.

In craps, if the shooter rolls a 12 on the come-out roll, you both lose your bets.

Still, this can be a fun way to use matchplay bets if you’re gambling at a casino with a friend.

What Are Funbooks?

You’ll often get matchplay coupons when you get a funbook… But


what’s a funbook? I’m sure you’ve seen one before!

It’s a book of coupons from the casino. It usually offers things besides just matchplay coupons, too. Sometimes, the coupons are good for free drinks. Sometimes, you can get dinner for half-price or buy-one-get-one-free.

It’s even common to get cheap or discounted show tickets or swag like ballcaps with the casino’s logo on them.

Many times, the easiest way to get a funbook is to take a bus trip to the casino. These promotions are specifically designed to get groups of gamblers to visit the casinos.

But you can also sometimes get a funbook from a casino just by asking for one.

Finally, you can get funbooks from magazines and websites. Casino Player often advertises such coupon books. American Casino Guide is also a good source for funbooks.

But the best place to get funbooks is via Las Vegas Advisor. This subscription-only service specializes in curating the best discounts and making them available to casino gamblers like you and me.

Some More Matchplay and Funbook Tips

To use a matchplay coupon in a casino, you usually have to go to the players’ club desk first. While you’re there, you’ll need to sign up for the players’ club to get your matchplay. It’s a good idea to set up specific emails for specific casinos.

If you have a Gmail address like I do, you can just use your regular email address and add +casinoname to the end of your name. For example, [email protected] might be the email address you’d use.

And if a casino is selling your email address to other companies, you’ll know where the other companies got your email from.

It’s also easier to set filters when you set up your email address this way. I don’t like to get bombarded by players club emails all the time. I’ll wind up visiting the casino and gambling more than I intend to.

So, the coupon in your funbook isn’t what you’ll use at the table when you place your matchplay bet. You’ll get a specific chip or coupon at the players’ club desk in exchange for the coupon in your book.

Risk-Free Betting With Matchplay Coupons

I suggested earlier that you might get together with another gambler to hedge your bets and practically assure yourself a win.

But what if you’re at the casino alone?

One tactic you might try is asking another gambler at the table if you can use your matchplay chip with his bet. You’re not risking any real money of your own this way. It’s customary to offer that gambler some of the bonus winnings if you win.

That’s literally a win-win situation for you and your new friend you’re playing real money roulette table with.

Of course, if the bet loses, you still lose your matchplay coupon, but that’s always the risk, regardless of whether you’re risking any of your own money or not.

I should also point out that even though a matchplay coupon isn’t something you can cash in, mathematically, it does have value.

For example, if you have a $50 matchplay chip, it’s worth at least 47.37% of $50, or $23.68. That’s just based on the expected value of a bet placed with the chip.

Conclusion

Matchplay chips and coupons are an exciting aspect of casino gambling that don’t get written about as often as other aspects of casino gambling.

I hope this post has served as a reasonably good introduction to the subject.

If you want to get the most out of matchplay chips and coupons, advantage gambling writer James Grosjean has written an ebook on the subject called Beyond Coupons. That might be worth looking into, also. If you’re looking for more tips on increasing your chances of winning at the casino, then you’ve luckily stumbled on just the right site.

Feel free to browse around to learn more about casinos and gambling!