the big difference here, as a few others have pointed out, is that the guy who stole this chips is an outlaw pursued by the police and the casino is aware that

the big difference here, as a few others have pointed out, is that the guy who stole this chips is an outlaw pursued by the police and the casino is aware that these chips were stolen. the laundering thing you described actually worked on a large scale for the MIT blackjack team (at least according to "bringing down the house"), but that's because the casino was unaware that these chips were illicit (it also helps, of course, that the MIT blackjack team members were operating within the law - there's a huge different between the casinos wanting to bar you and the feds wanting to arrest you, a fairly major point lost in the movie adaptation).