Casino personnel usually refer to chips as "cheques," which is of French ancestry. Technically, there is a distinction between a chip and a cheque. A cheque is a chip with a amount imprinted on its face and is constantly worth the amount of the imprinted number. Chips, although, do not have values written on them and any color can be valued at any amount as defined by the casino. For instance, in a poker tournament, the casino might state that white chips as one dollar and blue chips as ten dollars; while, in a roulette game, the dealer might state that white chips as 25 cents and blue chips as two dollars. Another instance, the inexpensive red, white, and blue poker chips you can get at the department store for your weekly poker get together are referred to as "chips" due to the fact that they don’t have denominations imprinted on them.
When you put your $$$$ down on the table and hear the dealer announce, "Cheque change only," he’s basically informing the box man that a new individual wants to exchange cash for chips (cheques), and that the cash on the table isn’t part of the action. Cash plays in almost all casinos, so if you lay a five dollar bill on the Pass Line just prior to the tosser rolling the bones and the dealer doesn’t change your money for cheques, your cash is "live" and "in play." When the dealer announces, "Cheque change only," the boxman understands that your cash isn’t in play.
Technically, in live craps rounds, we play with cheques, and not chips. Every now and then, a player will walk up to the the craps table, drop a $100 cheque, and inform the croupier, "Cheque change." It’s fun to pretend to be a novice and ask the dealer, "Hey, I am new to this game, what’s a cheque?" Frequently, their crazy responses will entertain you.