Allow me a moment to clear up a few things:
Another poster has asked me to explain where the 100 $25 Hard Rock Cinco Chips went. I feel as if this was some sort of attack on me personally - implying that I somehow benefitted from the release. I bought one chip, on the day of the release - waited in line like everyone else. I gave the chip to my brother because he thought the name Pink Taco was hysterical. To this day, I still do not have one of the chips. I have the $5 chip and to me that is certainly enough. I really don't collect $25 chips, especially ones with the same artwork that you can get on a $5 chip. I created the mintage of 100 thinking it was enough to satisfy the demand. 100 LTD chip issues at the Tropicana were always sufficient. To my knowledge, the Hard Rock did not have a history of doing $25 limited edition chips prior to my arrival. After realizing that it was obviously not enough - we quickly corrected the problem on subsequent releases. The next release was 250, still not enough we raised the subsequent $25 LTD to 500. In fact, I believe the HRH produced 750 of the 2nd anniversary Cinco chip. Of course, we tried to satisfy the collectors. But, our primary objective of doing the chip release was to get publicity for the restaurant. We were in the midst of launching a happy hour promotional campaign and we were aggressively going after the business lunch crowd. The chip was only a small part of the campaign that included new billboards, print advertising and an aggressive radio buy including live remotes, giveaways and live entertainment at the Pink Taco. A lot of so-called 'collectors' took advantage of the low mintage, I am sure that some of these individuals are club members and posters on this board. These are the individuals that sold the chips for $600, $700 even $800 and up. And I am the one being accused of not being chipper friendly? Frankly, I just don't understand that one.
As for the Palace Station chips. We produced some great chips - in fact we changed out the entire rack and gave collectors ample notice that we were doing so. We posted notes at every table 2-3 months in advance. We did $3 chips to promote our new $3 blackjack pit. The $8 chip was issued to commemorate Pit 8 - our new Asian gaming pit. Both issues gave the property great publicity regarding the two things we were trying to promote - the $3 BJ game and the Asian Pit. We scheduled some boxers to appear at the hotel - the show organizers asked us to do a limited edition chip release, so we did. Very few people collect Palace Chips - so we only produced 50 of the $25 chips, thinking that supply would certainly outpace demand. I had left before the chips were release and I never even got any of the chips. I posted the release information here on the board - virtually no one showed up for the sale. By regulation, we can not hold chips and deny people the right to buy them - Palace had a strict limit but because there was no line they could not enforce the limit. Of course, people were allowed to get back in line and buy more - there was no line so obviously this requirement was not enforced. There would have been plenty of chips for anyone who bothered to show up at the scheduled release time. I was not at Palace at the time of the release but this is the story as it was told to me.
The Tropicana error chip? I never said it was an error. It was the millennium and with all of the talk about the Y2K problem - we poked fun at it with a mirror image chip. If you hold it up to the mirror - the chip looked correct. I think it was a very interesting chip that tells a story about a very interesting time in all of our lives. It was obviously not an error in that not all of the images were reversed. All of our internal documentation and the information that we sent to the Nevada Gaming Control board indicated that it was intentional. I think the chip was awesome - I bought one chip and I have it framed. I would probably buy another one but I have never seen it for sale.
We are planning some exciting releases at the Marina this summer. As you all know, I am the Vice President of Marketing at the Trump Marina so of course I have some input into the program. However, I am not in charge of the program and I do not control mintage numbers or release policies.
I personally collect chips that I like the artwork on, I do not collect in the hopes that someday I can sell them at a profit. In fact I collect a lot of things - for my enjoyment only.
I am stating my point here now for the record once and for all. I will not get into a debate with other posters on this board. Please, let's get back to making this hobby fun.
Please do not ask me to reply to everyone individually on this board. If you have a question, please send me an e-mail at the address above.
I have gone out of my way to help fellow collectors. Members have asked me to send them slot club cards and even collect business cards for them. I have always done so without hesitation. I am sorry but I can not send chips to anyone. In fact, I am prohibited from gaming in the state of NJ so I can not even go to a table to buy a chip. In NJ you can not buy chips at the cage like you do in Nevada. If I want a chip, I have to ask someone to go to the table and buy one for me. NJ-CCC regulations are very strict and I would never risk my license for myself or for anyone else.
I sincerely wish all of you good luck and much enjoyment out of your hobby.