the LE's are only out of hand if someone lets them be. If someone started collecting LE's as an investment, then they probably made a bad guess, as with any bad investment. If a person collects what he/she likes, the that person is a collector who may or may not (probably not) make money with it.

I think the main reasons for the LE chips are advertising and drawing people into the casinos. If the casinos discover that it is not cost effective, I think most of the LE's will go away.

By the way. I first wanted to pick up chips as souvenirs of where Jan & I had been. The first chip I actually bought was an LE in consignment by one of our members in a hotel gift shop. I thought it was going to be a money maker. I was wrong. After one more acquisition like that I realized that on my income I could not invest in the kind of chips that probably would make money for me. Now I buy or trade for what I like while trying to get at least one chip from as many Nevada casinos as I can. And I'm having fun, especially getting to know my fellow collectors.