Concerns About Lead in Casino Chips

Four weeks ago a Phoenix TV Station reported that they had found some casino chips contained a high amount of lead. Gaming Partners International - the world's largest gaming chip maker manufacturers the chips in question but they said that today's chips aren't dangerous. Although some of the first gambling chips were believed to be made of compacted clay, their major component by the 1960s was a manufactured lead composite. Gaming Partners began phasing out lead in the 1990s because of safety concerns for workers who mix powdered ingredients into a dough that is pressed into chip forms.

By 2002 the company's chips had an average lead content of about .5 percent by weight and it is now about .003 percent, said Gaming Partners' chief executive officer, Gerard Charlier. A handful of the more than 70 "edge spot" colors used to create chips unique to each casino had a lead content of nearly 50 percent in 2002 but were reformulated and by 2006 the lead was removed, Charlier said.

Some casino dealers have expressed concern about the report of the lead in the chips but OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) has said that even the repeated handling of chips wouldn't be enough to trigger a hazardous level of lead dust. The risk of transferring the particles into the body and suffering from a lead buildup is remote, said Gaming Partners, which is preparing a detailed rebuttal to the Arizona story by attempting to quantify the risks. Results of an independently commissioned test are expected within days.