Cheating Device Spotlight - The Chip Cop

Cheating Device Spot Light – The “Chip Cop”

The simplest device is called the “chip cop.” In truth it really isn’t a device at all, instead it is a peculiar adhesive wax, colorless and easy to apply. The player or dealer who uses it smears it in the palm of his hand when he comes in on a jackpot or contributes his chips, he carelessly sweeps in his chips in and swings his hand back palm down. Often a man who has contributed a check low value chip and palms are a high chip. This is easy, especially if the chips in the center of the table are mussed or mixed up. The wax holds the stolen chip firmly and it does not prevent thief from performing ordinary actions for a few seconds prior to adding the stolen token to his own pile or stack. Sometimes he hides it for a few minutes until he can use it without attracting attention or arousing suspicion.

Using the chip cop a man can save himself a few dollars in a night, or at least increase the probabilities of his cash union ahead of the game, regardless of who the pots go to each time. This trick is primitive and simple. Perhaps that is why it is so frequently used. Like all simple ideas someone just had to complicate it. There is a device made in the early 20th century that acts like a frog’s tongue launching from the mouth onto an unsuspecting fly and once held retracting immediately back into the amphibian’s mouth. This “chip cop hold out” device is fastened to the theft’s arm, under his sleeve. The device works by squeezing the bulb which forces air through the rubber tubing forcing out a small container filled with “check cop” to grab a single chip and quickly retreat back up the cheat’s arm.

Since the evidence (the device) is impossible for the cheat to hide if he is searched and the fact that only one chip can be stolen per use it is not surprising that the “chip cop hold out” was never a popular tool among the old “advantage players” (cheats) and is one of the most rare gaffed items to find today.