[Quads]

http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise...articleID=5828 Tupper Lake plastics plant now making poker chips By JACOB RESNECK, Enterprise Staff Writer TUPPER LAKE — Casino poker chips are now being made at the former Oval Wood Dish plant whose landmark smokestack and water tower dominate Tupper’s skyline. Since the tail end of last year, Jarden Plastic Solutions, a $3.5 billion operation based in Rye, in Westchester County, has been retooling its Tupper Lake operation to manufacture hundreds of varieties of poker chips, said plant manager Mark Yamrick. The move comes in the wake of Jarden’s purchase of a Las Vegas-based poker chip company that supplies casinos around the world. “We moved it in with little fanfare,” Yamrick said of the new operation. “There is a certain amount of security involved.” While poker chips might sound like a commodity with a black market value, the actual finishing work is not completed in Tupper Lake, Yarmick said. Casinos add their own distinctive mark on each chip before it is cash redeemable. For Jarden, the $350,000 expansion will also mean expanding its workforce by about 21 full-time employees to more than 100 workers. “We’re already ramping up,” Yamrick said. “We’re trying to grow the business.” Already, about 4,000-square-feet of space inside the 130,000-square-foot plant has been set aside for poker chip manufacturing, and the plant is churning out chips in a variety of colors and styles. The majority of the facility continues to manufacture plastic cutlery branded for the retail market and shipped across the country. Jarden purchased the plant a little more than three years ago, said Yamrick, a Tupper Lake native who’s managed the plant for more than a decade. “It’s a new item for us, and we’re really excited about it,” he added. The expansion is tied to New York Power Authority’s continued support of relatively cheap electricity that makes Tupper Lake an attractive base for an industrial producer like Jarden. The Industrial Economic Development Program, which sets aside thousands of kilowatts of relatively inexpensive electricity for municipal electric departments and rural cooperatives to support economic developments in the state, helped secure an additional 610 kilowatts, half of it low-cost hydro power, NYPA officials said. “We’re providing the additional power to this municipal system because they are anticipating an increased load due to the expansion of this industrial operation,” said Michael Saltzman, a NYPA spokesman. “We like to support this kind of economic development.” Last year, the Tupper Lake Municipal Electric System applied to NYPA to maintain its allocation of relatively low-cost hydroelectric power with the power authority. Hydro power sells for about $1 per kilowatt, compared to power on the open market which fetches about $13 per kilowatt, said John Bouck, electric superintendent for Tupper Lake. “It’s great for the whole system,” Bouck said of NYPA’s decision to keep Tupper Lake flush with low-cost power. “It helps us preserve our hydro allocation as it stands today.” Contact Jacob Resneck at 891-2600 ext. 24 or jresneck@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.

[Quads]

Me wonders if this is going to be a company producing a slugged dice chip or something in the caliber on RTP, or even possibly as high of quality as Bud Jones and Co.

[bmwguy525]

If it would produce BJ quality chips it would be interesting to see how much it would cost. I'd be stoked if they did

[cowboys]

The move comes in the wake of Jarden’s purchase of a Las Vegas-based poker chip company that supplies casinos around the world.

Interesting. Anybody know what company in Vegas would have been sold?

cowboys

[Quads]

That's what I've been digging around for the last hour trying to find.

[JoseRijo]

An hour, huh quads?
http://boardgames.about.com/b/a/0692...le+casino+2003

Looks like the casinos are forming a line for Bicycle chips!

[Quads]

The move comes in the wake of Jarden’s purchase of a Las Vegas-based poker chip company that supplies casinos around the world.

http://boardgames.about.com/b/a/0692...le+casino+2003

Jarden Corporation recently announced that it has entered into a definitive purchase agreement to acquire United States Playing Card Company
..
Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio,..

[cowboys]

Isn't that press release dated 2004? Old news?

cowboys

[cowboys]

I can't find anything out about them either except for USPC. Maybe they're going to make some of their cheapie chips here instead of China. Would be hard to believe.

cowboys

[Quads]

Originally Posted by cowboys

Isn't that press release dated 2004? Old news?

cowboys

Yes, the link that Jose posted was a 2004 story-

I can't find anything (yet) about them buying a Vegas based gaming supply company.