The writer doesn't have anything mixed up. Most of the chips were large value denominated and hence nearly all of the stolen chips were worthless the moment the thief walked out the door.

Also, the article is not claiming the thief was captured because of the RFID. The article is simply highlighting how the RFIDs in the chips foiled the thief by making the chips worthless almost immediately, and then goes on to highlight how RFIDs within chips are enabling casino operators to track user behavior in new and novel ways. The focus of the story is not that RFID was used to catch the bad guy, rather the focus is on how RFID tech within these chips has changed casino operation, from user tracking, to "turning off" stolen chips on demand.

What do you consider "large value denominated" and where did find out what the breakdown was? In my book "large value" in a 1.5 mil heist would be $5,000 and higher. My guess would be that most chips were $100, $500 and $1,000 chips. But AFAIK, Bellagio hasn't released any of that information.

As I heard on the radio (I cannot attest to its truthfulness) -- the thief was trying to sell 'cranberries', or $25,000 chips.

The fifth sentence of the first paragraph of the linked article is "Thanks to RFID tags embedded inside them, the chips with denominations of $100 to $25,000 could be immediately deactivated rendering them unredeemable for cash value."