Over the summer I was playing an awesome $5 or $10 blackjack game at Harrah’s Vegas (Note: it was 6:5 and not really awesome) when I received the Kit Carson Legends Of The West chip you see above.
It was the only non-Harrah’s chip I saw on the table all night so I held it aside and asked the dealer who Kit Carson was and why is he on a chip. She didn’t know, even though the chip says that its part of a series. Nobody else at the table knew what this was either. I was semi-curious so I kept the chip so I could find out. Here’s some of what Wikipedia says about Kit Carson.
Christopher Houston “Kit” Carson (December 24, 1809[1] – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman and Indian fighter. Carson left home in rural present-day Missouri at age 16 and became a mountain man and trapper in the West.[2]Carson explored the west to California, and north through the Rocky Mountains. He lived among and married into theArapaho and Cheyenne tribes. He was hired by John C. Fremont as a guide, and led ‘the Pathfinder’ through much of California, Oregon and the Great Basin area.
Kit Carson’s connection to Las Vegas Isn’t that vast but I guess he was, indeed, a legend of the west. This is actually a cool way to teach people about the history of the west, but if management doesn’t start by educating their staff ideas like this fall on deaf ears.
I’m more neurotic than most people so I saved the chip to learn who Kit Carson was. I know that there are people that collect casino chips for various reasons so I figured that I might as well share the information. I don’t see anything special about Kit Carson, and I’m not a chip collector (unless the chip holds special meaning), so if I ever see this chip again I’ll just play it.
While not knowing what this chip was isn’t a big deal in the overall Harrah’s experience a casino manager should be able to explain this connection to the dealers as it’s a simple conversation piece to help make players forget that they’re losing money. I know that works when talking about concert or event chips at other casinos.
