... the hot stamps were applied to CANCEL the chips ... no different than cancelling a postage stamp.

It is my personal opinion which is shared by many other club members that it is not ethical to remove cancellations on casino chips. Nobody knows for sure what will become of these ALTERED chips down the road ... in spite of the original stated intentions.

I've personally seen chips that had ZAB hot stamp cancellations removed with nail polish remover with no traces left of the gold hot stamp and absolutely no impressions where the hot stamp used to be.