I am sure I will be corrected if I am wrong but as I have read here before, over the last few years, and from my understanding, it is a numbers game, so to speak. As somebody mentioned before, I think, a casino has to carry a balance on their books for all the chips that they have in circulation. They are an obligation or liability that must be paid. A new casino closing the books of their predecessor, of course, would recall all chips from previous owner in order to close those books. Then they would open their own books and issue new chips reflecting their level of liability that they want to assume. For every debit there must be a credit and vice versa. Therefore if for one reason or another a casino wants to free up some assets or cash they might need to order a redemption of old chips so that they can free up those financial resources. It could be that accounting shows a lot of chips outstanding and they want to get it under control. Maybe the number of chips in circulation doesn't match what was on record as being issued.

It could be that they are looking at some new chip releases down the road but only want to carry so much liability on the books for LE chips. For every release they might have planned, they need to redeem an old one. I note that the redemptions that I read about in the original post are LE issues. It may, largely, be a formality since the release of these chips to begin with were collectables and souvenirs. They probably don't expect many of them back and just want to clear the books of them.

As for the redemption of chips that have been recalled, and the price to charge for chips, It has been my observation that if a chip is a legitimate chip and was used by an authentic casino and actually put into play that even if redeemed they would be worth, at least, their face. However the big factor is what the market will pay and how many chips are available (supply) vs. the amount of people who want them,(demand).

Game played chips and chips that have at one time entered the accounting system under the supervision of gaming regulations have certain requlations under state laws on how they must be disposed of. In most cases they have to be certified as distroyed and or recalled. Therefore after redemption or closing or changing of ownership of a casino fewer chips will servive in circulation. Many will be returned and destroyed. Thus the law of supply and demand will usually dictate that the chips would be worth more rather than less than face.

However, there is always the hard fact that your chip is only worth what somebody out there is willing to pay for it or what you are willing to part with it for. I have used the example before of my Tyson Holyfield II $10 MGM chip. I have tried many times to get one and couldn't find one at a price I was willing to pay. One evening while bottom fishing I found a listing on eBay for one that had no bidders. Based on some uncertainty of a fairly new seller and what I had seen listings for in the past I put about a $15 bid or so on it. To my amazement I was the only bidder on the chip for $9. Maybe it was a poor picture or no picture. Maybe the seller had a negative feedback or low feedbacks. Whatever, sometimes the market will only support so much. Rarely though, have I seen any Casino Played chips go for less than face. I have some recallection of seeing some authentic chips for casinos that never opened and thus were never issued, sell for less than face. In the case that I am thinking though there were tons of chips available and since they never entered play and the casino never opened in the first place they didn't get destroyed. I also seem to recall that the situation I am thinking of might have been California and NOT Nevada or AC.