A few years ago, I ended up with one of these, so I decided to investigate.

The Las Vegas Flame has a HUGE history amongst old time craps dealers here in Las Vegas. Many financial transactions took place there seven nights a week. It was a part of the old Las Vegas.

I approached dozens of dealers, boxmen, and floormen, who went to The Flame every night after work to "settle up." It was just a part of business.

Of all the people I talked to to, not one of them could remember ever seeing gaming tables at The Flame. And if anyone in Las Vegas would know, it was these guys.

I took my chip back to the California chip dealer that sold it to me and told him that I thought he had misled me on the chip being from The Flame in Las Vegas. After I told him my story about talking to the guys at work that told me The Flame had no tables, he IMMEDIATELY exchanged the chip. I later heard from someone that The Flame chip was from a cardroom in California.

A year later, the chip was in James C.'s book and was "attributed to" the Las Vegas Flame. At last years convention, I went to his booth and questioned the accuracy of the attribution. I explained my investigation to the guy at the booth (James was away from the booth at the time) and his reply was, "Well, that's why we wrote attributed to. We can't know about every single chip."

Needless to say, I didn't buy the book.

I stand by the accounts of my co-workers. I don't believe The Flame in Las Vegas ever had table games. The Flame has an incredible history with the casino workers of Las Vegas. It's unfortunate that this history has caused many to buy into an incorrect attribution of a foreign chip, allowing a few to profit handsomely, and many to overspend.