Tom,

Slabbing casino chips is inherently a fraudulent activity. The slaber certifies that the chip is of a certain grade so that the buyer can feel safe that when he goes to the sell the chip it wil be accepted by buyers as being of that grade.

How can such a certification of grade men anything? We have no universaly accepted or even commonly acepted grading standards so what does it matter if some guy at a slabbing compnaies Certifies that the chip is Grade AAA or 92 or any other grade he wans to apply? How can you disagree with hi when he grades the chip sice there is no standard to compare it to.

Slabbing coins makes sense to investors (though it is clearly an abused practice) because there is a commonly accepted standard by which coins are graded and that grading standard is very detailed and may require significant experience and expertise to apply. Even there we see many abuses such non-independen graders, regrading of chips, waranties which have no practical means to enforce.

Most collectors I know want to be able to touch and handle their chips, this would not be of concern to investors, but this hobby is dominated by collectors not investors.

Hope that helps.