Casino staff normally reference chips as "cheques," which is of French origin. In reality, there’s a difference between a chip and a cheque. A cheque is a chip with a value written on its face and is constantly valued at the value of the written number. Chips, although, don’t have values written on them and any colour can be worth any dollar value as determined by the house. e.g., in a poker tournament, the croupier might value white chips as 1 dollar and blue chips as 10 dollars; at the same time, in a game of roulette, the dealer may define white chips as 25 cents and blue chips as two dollars. A different example, the inexpensive red, white, and blue plastic chips you buy at Wal-Mart for your weekend poker get together are known as "chips" seeing as they do not have denominations written on them.
When you plop your cash down on the table and hear the dealer say, "Cheque change only," he is merely telling the boxman that a new individual would like to trade $$$$$ for chips (cheques), and that the money on the table is not in play. money plays in a majority of betting houses, so if you place a five dollar bill on the Pass Line just before the shooter rolls the bones and the dealer doesn’t trade your $$$$$$ for cheques, your money is "part of the action." When the dealer indicates, "Cheque change only," the boxman knows that your $$$$$ is not in play.
Technically, in live craps rounds, we bet with cheques, and not chips. Every once in a while, a player will walk up to the the table, drop a one hundred dollar cheque, and tell the dealer, "Cheque change." It is fun to pretend to be a novice and ask the dealer, "Hey, I’m new to Craps, what is a cheque?" Generally, their comical responses will entertain you.