Cancelled Casino Decks: Why Old Cards Get Holes Punched

Casino card games burn through decks at a remarkable pace. A deck that looks perfectly fine to a home player may be retired after a single shift, or even sooner on a busy blackjack table. Those retired decks do not go back into play. They are cancelled, and many of them end up in gift shops, souvenir bags and the pockets of visitors.

Why decks are retired so fast

Every card picks up tiny marks with use: a bent corner, a scratch, a smudge. To a trained eye, a marked card can give away information. Casinos therefore replace decks on a schedule and inspect them regularly, so no card stays in play long enough to become recognisable.

How cancelling works

Before leaving the casino, retired decks are marked so they can never be slipped back onto a table. The two common methods are:

• Drilling: a hole is punched or drilled through the whole deck, usually near the centre.
• Corner clipping: one corner is cut off every card.

The decks are then sealed, often in a plastic case or paper wrapper with the casino's name, and sold for a small sum in gift shops.

Why people collect them

A cancelled deck is a cheap, genuine piece of a casino's history. Collectors look for decks from closed or renamed properties, special editions and unusual back designs. Card magicians and home poker players use them too, since the cards are high quality and the hole hardly matters for many games.

Leather for cards

Decks need a home, and leatherworkers have answered with card cases of every kind: simple slip covers, boxes with magnetic lids, two-deck cases for bridge players. The best are made from firm leather that keeps its shape, with a thumb cut-out to slide the deck out. Many collectors keep a favourite cancelled deck in exactly that sort of case, next to a zip card wallet in a travel bag.

The next time you see a deck with a neat hole through it, you will know it has already seen a long night at a real table.