Hi Jim; Your question about the Hobby Protection Act (that's the title of it) is a current Federal law. However, many of the abuses that chip collectors report on this BB are not covered under the act. Basically, in a shorthand nutshell, what it says is that reproductions of numismatic items must be marked "copy". CC&GTCC feels that casino chips and tokens are numismatic by definition (numismatic being "a substitute for money") and therefore falls under the act, although it doesn't specifically say so. We've been somewhat successful with a major chip manufacturer convincing them they should withdraw reproduction casino chips they were manufacturing and selling to the public which bore a close enough resemblance to the real likenessess of a particular casino chip series that was on the tables which in our opinion had violated the intent of the hobby protection act. Since then, we have petitioned the FTC to specifically include casino chips and tokens in the official language of the act. Anyone requesting additional information about the act can write to the American Numismatic Association 818 North Cascade Ave. Colorado Springs, CO 80903, or to Coin World P.O. Box 150 Sidney, OH or to Numismatic News, Iola, WI These three numismatic organizations have been spearheading the efforts to update the language of the act and CC&GTCC has added our concerns to their appeal.
Hope I've been of some assistance to you. Archie