A couple of additional thoughts on this, As Jason said,

I agree entirely. This is how, as a relatively new collector, I discovered that LE's existed - by winning a few at the tables. I would like to see a proportion, say 10-20% of any new LE issue sent to the tables to ensure that other people get a chance to see them and maybe they would also catch the collecting bug! It also adds to the fun when you unexpectedly pick up an LE at the table that was unavailable at the cage.

This is exactly what I had in mind when I decided that I agreed that this was good. I have, on a few occasions, once at Luxor, A few times at Orleans and once at RIO and Once at Aladdin, received LEs while playing. They are usually not in perfect condition and sometimes fairly worn but they do create interest. On a couple occasions I have noticed other players get one and seem puzzled over the appearance of the chips. Once a player asked the BJ dealer what they were and she said They are special chips. People collect them. The woman who got the chip thought it was neat and kept the chip. Once at Luxor I got a couple Blue Man chips. They were actually in excellent condition considering they had been played. I put them in my pocket and a friend of mine asked why I was doing that. I pointed out the design and showed him the chip. He thought it was cool and before we had left, we each had a couple blue man, one reg $5 house and a full set of the $1 tokens.

For Archie, Your comments made me realize something. If a casino normally offers 500 chips and sells out, then why can't they issue 1000 chips, put 500 at the tables, in their racks and remove 500 regular house chips. Then, they can put the other 500 chips at the cage and sell them as they normally do in pristine uncirculated conditon. In fact, I have, on a few occasions noticed that there might be flaws amongst some new chips. If someone took a short amount of time and briefly browsed all of the chips and put aside all the flawed chips and took good chips up to the defined split, 500 as mentioned before, for example, then put those slightly irregular chips at the tables. Then keep the best chips at the cage for sale to dealers and collectors who prefer that quality. Like you suggest, especially at a time like during the convention, they might notice a lot of collectors actually playing the tables looking for whatever LEs or commemoratives they can find. It is a good bet that most of the leftovers will eventually walk. Thus the problem of sitting on chips could be minimized if not eliminated.

Again, this year I will not be able to be at the convention. The bowling tournement I bowl in doesn't arrive till Sunday and my plane reservations have already been made by the league. Reading this thread, I am getting pretty excited as we now approach 60 days. If the situation at our hotel is the same as last year, I might get there at 10am and not get a room till 4. If that is the case I might have to hit some of those casinos that Steve just listed and hope for some leftovers at the cage. It would also be great if they put some of them at the tables. Maybe our friends here that run or have connections with the chip programs will note these suggestions. It would be really cool if the casinos put those excess chips at the tables. I don't know though, If I take all my winnings in chips, I might run out of my bankroll too early.