I'm sure that LE chips have had some affect in the hobby for sure. I'm not sure that the assessment of their limitation has had that dramatic of an affect on the hobby over all. From my perspective from many serious collectors LE chips are not that well regarded and their value is very subjective and there are very few that hold high values. Again as a collector of many things I truly believe that anything labeled as "collectible" or "limited edition" is almost always a sales tool versus the item being truly and honestly "limited" or collectively valued.

I would never dissuade a collector from such items if they really love them, but as we know these items while now limited by approval by commissions in Nevada are still produced for many events and historically significance thereby increasing their purchase. One just needs to visit the NGC approval records to see that there is still thousands applied for and approved. And while we see that casinos are in an active attempt to relieve the industry of chips (only making collecting MORE significant) there is still hundreds of thousands of casino chips approved and produced for Nevada alone each year not to mention all the other states having casinos with chips.

2015 through 2025 NGC records can be seen here:

https://pokerchipper.com/resources/