It is with great pride and happiness that I can join the other "lifers" in our organization. Since I started collecting casino chips in 1960, and then found out there were others with this same facination in 1993, I have enjoyed swapping stories and chips with many of you!

I look forward to many similarly happy days to come.

I send this email from Hawaii where my wife and I are on tour (our "belated" honeymoon). There are no casinos in Hawaii although there was an article in the paper addressing the growing "underground" gambling here.

I hope to see many of you at the convention!

Sincerely,

Rich Hodges