"There will be some new manipulation to come to cause chips to be released in short. It may be that quantities are held back, or destroyed, or defaced but I guarantee that with 1 year we will hear about some sort of manipulation."

I can't argue that one. Partly because whee there's money there's always greed. btu also because there always seems to be someone who isn't happy with the way a chip is released: The line is too long, we need numbers; The numers are handed out too early; there's no line at all because chips are reserved; too many chips are being released by this casino; the LTD numbres are too low; too many are being held for the band; no advance info is given out on releases; and so on and so on and so on. The individual gripes may or may not be legit, but I have to say that the ability of collectors to think of things to complain about is at least as long as the ability of casinos and dealers to manipulate.

"doesn't the fact that the casino cage is actually referring people to Rene raise some questions in your mind about what the relationship between a casino and a dealer/collector should be"

Of course it rasies questions, but what are the answers? To me, yes it's a bit unseemly. But maybe that's my legal background. I cerainly expect courts, government ageencies, etcx, to serve everyone equally. But casinos are a money-making venture, with their own concerns. They can cut deals with whomever they want. I once worked for a baseball card collector who cut deals with the NFL to host shows at the SuperBowl. He was provided with large quantities of rare error cards from the manufacturers to provide to big clients as "bonuses." Those things all seem far more shady than anything Rene has done, but in that field no one considered it "unseemly."

I guess the real questions for the Stations is whether they'd rather cut deals with dealers and alienate a certain percentage of collectors; hire a full-time independent person to run their chip programs and pay him a salary -- then hope he alienates fewer colectors than Rene would; or have no chip program.

Oh well, Merry Xmas. I hope Santa left a Bugsy in your stocking.