I'll be deep in the heart of the Brainerd lakes area of Minnesota this Friday, but will offer my feelings as both a Colorado resident and chip collector.
If a chip is issued, it should be available at face value, be it in a set or separate of a set. If any chip is offered as available ONLY as part of a set, the entire set should be available at the FACE VALUE of the chips. Laws are already on the books concerning the use of casino produced currency outside of a casino, but there appears to be no law governing the sale of casino produced currency within the casino. If that is the case (a casino can sell their own redeemable chips at more that face value), Colorado casino law needs to be revised. If such a revision isn't within the current gaming statutes, the very least that could be done in a case such as The Lodge Grand Opening set NEEDS to be an avenue to keep the chips that were approved to be real value method of exchange of money at the imprinted value on every chip. Perhaps a revision to gaming approval of a chip would require that the chip(s) be actually in play, or designated as "no play" or even fantasy chips. ...just my take on it