"All true Archie......but let me ask you this since you are a HR collector. Was this ever done with those popular pins??

Steve; Every Hard Rock that ever opened had issued Opening Staff pins to employees only. I personally paid $500 for my Atlantic City Opening Staff pin from a Hard Rock waitress ... and that's the key. If you want to be "complete" ... you have to pay the current market price if you were unable to get one at face value (in the case of a chip). I'm considered an advanced collector as far as Atlantic City chips go ... yet I'm not "complete"... and never will be.

"As I said earlier, casinos can issue as many chips as they want and release them however they please. It doesn't change the fact that when things like this are done they are NOT "chipper friendly". As far as the 'outing' to the HR, I for one wouldn't go as my own personal protest.
Pick up the 'free' chip...you bet. Gamble there, drinks at the bar...no way!! I'm not going to be 'jerked around' and then pay you for doing it!"

That's just the point Steve ... YOU are not paying for the success of that business simply by purchasing their chips. They depend on regular customers who patronize the establishment when there are no chips to promote to stay in business ... and those are the patrons they are rewarding with their special chips program.

Steve; Regarding the HR TCB "outing"... that's a personal decision you are making. I would have had to make a similar personal decision regarding crossing a picket line next week if the strike was still on. I've told several people privately last week that I would not in good concience attend the banquet if a strike was on at Trop... but I would cross the picket line to get to my hotel room... but I would not cross any other picket line in town at other properties. I felt that I have a bigger obligation to the club membership and the convention committees than I do to a picket line in front of the host hotel. In short, I couldn't offer the strikers 100% support, but I could offer maybe 95%. We all have decisions in life to make. Some are more meaningful than others.

"As far as the statement "chip collectors can't have every chip that's issued", that's not entirely true! Most people I know of (me included) like to have complete collections. While that may be impossible for the old, obsolete chips say from the Flamingo to use another popular place as an example, it is VERY possible with new releases, especially LE's if everyone has a fair shot to obtain them. The HR continues to be the only casino I know of in the USA to have done this with a denominational chip."

"Once again, to each their own and everyone is entitled to collect whatever they want from wherever they want but due to the issuing and release policies in place at the HR I feel that our club should not allow use of our logo on any HR merchandise.....chips or otherwise."

Granting use of the club logo is a policy decision that will vary from club administration to club administration. Gene Trimble will tell you ... during my term as club President ... I and my fellow officers denied Gene permission to put the club logo on a NCV Fiesta chip because we thought at the time it was inappropriate for a casino to try to woo convention-goers away from the host hotel to get them to come to their property. Times change; people change; and thinking changes. I've changed my position on my thinking back then, and I believe the club officers made the right decision with respect to our 10th Anniversary Convention being celebrated throughout the city by granting permission to several casinos to use the club logo.... Hard Rock included.

Let's put a different slant on things Steve. Let's say Hard Rock decided to give a NCV chip to everyone at the time of check-in to everyone who was staying in the hotel on New Years Eve. What has that BUSINESS DECISION got to do with chip collectors? It would be nice to have one... but to insist that chippers MUST have the opportunity to obtain one "in order to be complete" is stretching it a bit. It's strictly a business consideration as I see it. If a Hard Rock chip collector wants one of those New Years Eve hotel guest chips bad enough .... they would have to buy one on ebay, or from a chip dealer or another collector who had one ... if they were not staying there on New Year's Eve.

Just my two chips worth....