Having just arrived back from 10 days in Vegas, I thought I'd share some experiences with regards obtaining chips from Casinos along the Strip.

I was there on vacation with my family, including my young daughter, and did a lot of my chipping early in the morning (6am - 8am) when she was awake and I took her for a morning walk - ok, so she was mostly in the stroller, but I needed the exercise!

Anyway, I found that of all the casinos I visited, New York New York, Barbery Coast, Harrahs & Flamingo were all particularly helpful, with the staff offering to find good condition chips, usually from other cashiers or from the safe. The slot club at Bellagio were also really helpful, as their club was in the gaming area, but the lady there took my ID while I walked around the casino with my daughter and then came over to find me and hand me my slot card.

The only problem I had was in the Boardwalk, where as soon as I approched the cage a security guard stopped my and said that minors were not allowed to be at the cashier's cage! When I questioned the decision, I was told that she was in charge and that I had to leave. So I did!

All in all though, a great trip, lots of friendly casino staff, including the roulette dealers at the Monte Carlo where my step father obtained several different roulettes for me, with the dealer just smiling every time he went back requesting different colours each time!

Oh, and a question for next time. My step father won a number of Aladdin silver strikes, but not knowing what they were just cashed them in at the cage. Are they worth any more than their $10 face value - should I have kept them to trade with? (I don't collect them myself) I didn't know about this until after he'd cashed them in, but useful info for when we come back - just looking for the next good deal in airfares from the UK!

Now just saving for the next trip!

Jason