Not long ago, I was informed in a thread that "illegals" referred to chips from the period before the illegal Newport Kentucky clubs were shut down (1964 I believe). I agreed to call the current and very recent illegal card clubs in the New York metro area "underground chips" because most people who play in those games refer to them as underground clubs. The clubs are illegal, but I understood that illegals collectors needed a distinction. That was the basis of my reference.

Michael Siskin