California Poker Rooms Will Soon Go Unleaded

Thanks, in part, to an Arizona television station's news expose, a number of California casinos are ready to convert to lead-free poker chips. In an expose conducted by Channel 15 (ABC) Phoenix , the station found that chips made by Paulson Gaming Supplies had lead levels in excess of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards.

Research compiled by the Center for Environmental Health (CEHCA) find that Paulson chips are currently in use at 28 of the 30 largest US casinos, as well as in poker rooms in South America and Asia. The GPI line can also be purchased for private use from retail locations.

Poker chips should contain no more than .005 percent lead. The expose revealed that the lead levels in the paint were as high as 400 percent of EPA approved levels. As for the insides, some cores were found to be as high as 50 percent lead, answering any questions as to how a clay chip hides its weight.

The expose also implied that toxic levels of exposure could occur after just handling lead-laden chips. After much testing, the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) could not replicate the TV station's findings and canceled any related health alerts.

A recent article in the Las Vegas sun stated, "Independent tests showed it was physically impossible for either dealers or players to receive a harmful dose of lead by coming in contact with the chips."

So far, 21 California casinos have announced that they will convert to lead-free poker chips in the near future.

GPI is just one of the many businesses running into California's Proposition 65, which requires businesses to warn patrons when they have substances, "known to cause cancer, birth defects and other reproductive harm," on the premises.

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