BY TOM SOMACH

It’s not just Chinese toy makers who are putting deadly lead in their products.

A Las Vegas company that makes poker chips has been accused of putting unsafe and potentially deadly amounts of lead in its products.

And now, Arizona health regulators have issued a warning about the popular brand of poker chips.

The warning about Paulson brand chips, which are used in many casinos and sold to gamblers, came a day after a Phoenix television station ran a story about its investigation of the chips.

The head of the Arizona Department of Health Services’ environmental health office notified the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about the potentially-deadly poker chips, saying casino workers’ children or families with chips at home could be at risk.

The television station had 200 chips tested by a private lab and said swabs showed all had surface lead exceeding the EPA limit of 0.6%.

More than half maxed out the swab’s 10% limit, 160 times the federal limit.

A statement by the Las Vegas firm that makes Paulson chips, Gaming Partners International Corporation, said they aren’t a health hazard when used normally.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)