Darrell Ratliff describes himself as a problem solver. He is also a survivor, having endured a bout with cancer and more disappointments than a go-for-broke blackjack player on a long losing streak.
Full view of the Smart Chip Tray
The former U.S. Marine owns a leather goods company based in Italy and a 3D animation company. But his passion lies in his invention, the smart chip tray, that allows casinos to streamline tray count in real-time while mitigating the possibility of cheating.
But in trying to get the smart chip tray to market, Ratliff has become like the mythical Sisyphus, rolling his invention up a precipice, so close to a breakthrough, only to be knocked down again and again:
- After receiving a patent for the small chip tray, he received interest from an investment company that waived a $50,000 retainer to bring the smart chip tray to market. The investment company then told a group of potential buyers that Ratliff wasn’t to be addressed during negotiations, causing him to end the relationship.
- Ratliff enlisted an engineering firm capable of manufacturing the smart chip tray to his specifications, only to cancel an agreement after interminable delays.
- Another possible agreement with a manufacturer was subverted when the company proposed selling, not leasing, the smart chip tray.
If those disappointments weren’t daunting enough, Ratliff was diagnosed with lung cancer (now in remission), the aftermath of serving at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina.
Those setbacks would cause most people to give up. But like Sisyphus, Ratliff keeps climbing the mountain, pushing his invention forward, firm in his belief he has a worthy contribution to the gaming industry.
Ratliff’s interest in casino technology dates back to a rare blackjack session in 1999. Not a gambler, but intrigued by gaming’s technical side, he invented a casino chip with an embedded RFID chip. Ratliff received a patent for the invention, but it didn’t gain traction—although years later, he found out anecdotally that another company had stolen the technology he invented.
“A lot of the wording was written exactly the same,” Ratliff recalls of his infringed patent. “But I was a strong Christian man at the time, and I had prayed to God because I had people wanting to throw money at me for this RFID chip thing. I said, `You know God, if this is going to change me into a man of arrogance and a different kind of person, then I don’t want it in my life.’
“But then when you hear somebody stole it, you just get angry.”
In 2017, Ratliff filed a patent for the smart chip tray, a device that tracks chips in real-time and is programmable for various denominations. Because casino chips can vary by fractions, the tray needs to be calibrated to account for minuscule size variations.
“The chips don’t have to be any kind of special chips at all,” Ratliff says. “That’s a big thing because casinos don’t want to spend hundreds or thousands or millions of dollars, depending on the size of the casino, re-chipping everything.”
Ratliff also developed an optional drop box counter to pair with the smart chip tray and account for monies paid for additional chips at a table.
“If chips are coming out (of the chip tray), the cross-reference is the fact that it’s in the cash box,” he says. “Because then, if you didn’t do that, it would potentially leave a vulnerability in terms of the count being off. If someone buys $1,000 in chips and it goes into the drop box, then the table didn’t lose $1,000.
“And that’s the thing about the tray as well. It tells the operators if they’re losing money or making money.”
Ratliff adds that his smart chip tray assists dealers in that they don’t have to constantly do counts in order to monitor the count. “All they need to do is make sure they are putting the right chips in the right tubes,” he says.
So far, Ratliff has found no takers for his invention, but he refuses to give up.
“Daryl is certainly resilient,” says Justin Woodward, chief revenue officer for Red Rock 1, a casino marketing and incentive solutions provider. “I admire his efforts to continue to break into the industry. Coming from outside the industry, it’s a very difficult thing to do. … The industry is not always welcoming people who come from the outside. Even though we’re global, we’re still relatively small. Everyone kind of knows everyone. So, it’s been a tough road to hoe for him, as it would be for anyone, not just him.”
Woodward has tried to help Ratliff by introducing him to a patent attorney and giving advice. But so far, his efforts have not yielded any progress.
Unfazed by his lack of success, Ratliff remains firm in his belief that the smart chip tray will benefit casino operators.
‘I’m trying to just find someone who’s willing to be truthful and honorable and take this to the market and help the industry,” Ratliff says. “There’s no greed here whatsoever. I just want to see this out there.”
