My wife is the player in the family, and I would just while away my time playing $1 blackjack. Yes, this was some time ago, probably 1996/1997. With a small stake, I always lost, but for some reason, at this session I got down to 1 chip left and decided to NOT give it back to the casino. I kept it and the next thing I knew, I would use my small stake to buy more chips (1 $1 chip and 1 $1 token), and as they say, the rest is history!

Courtesy of ChipGuide...