I have read all of the postings on roulette chip collecting that have been posted in the last few hours. Since I am "Mr. Roulette" I guess I better put my 2 cents in to this debate. I believe that collecting roulette chips is an acceptable part of our hobby and I believe as time goes on Casinos will encourage more and more the acquiring of roulette chips. Here is my reasoning on the subject. I believe that in most Casinos ther is a sign poeted stating that Casino chips and tokens issued by the Casino can not be used outside of the Casino for any monetary purpose. If this is a regulation than any trading, bartering or reselling of Casino chips or tokens is technically in violation of this policy and thus an illegal action. Some one who works for a Casino could get the exact wording. If we followed this regulatiion to the letter, this hobby would not exist. We all know that this is not going to happen. The Casinos issue L.E.'s by the 1000's just for collectors to purchase and take home. Now this brings us to the subject of acquiring and collecting roulette chips.Casinos definitly send out a mixed message concerning roulette chips. Harrah's in A.C. is a good example of what I mean. Before Harrah's put the colorful series of Chipco roulette on the tables they were warned by security experts that these chips had "take me home" written all over them. The net result at Harrah's was that over 17,000 roulette chips walked out of the Casino as the roulette "theives" put together their 96 piece roulette sets. Harrah's sold (charged from $1.00 to $5.00 per chip) to buy in and play roulette, making a nice profit on each chip.. In addition the total roulette play increased. The Casino made money on both counts.
In Nevada were the buy in is less per chip sometimes 25 to 50 cents each the theory is still the same, but the profit margin may not be as great. I f a Casino can not stand the loss of a few 100 or a few 1000 roulette chips all the roulette Police in Nevada would not be able to keep the Casino open.
As I said earlier I believe that Casinos will figure a way to make a profit on roulette chips that walk while still prtecting the security of their game, while eliminating the charade of prtecting their property.
If you believe that acquiring roulette chips is not in your best interest or the Clubs I suggest that you don't acquire, trade or collect this illegal contraband.
But remember what I said about the regulation against using any chips or tokens for monetary purposes outside the Casino - you may want to get rid of your entire collection so you are not in violation of stated Casino policy..