Casinos love to have their chips kept (read not redeemed) by their customers, at least on chips which have a face value of more than the cost of the chip. The face value falls right to the bottom line, less only the cost of the chip.

That said, in order to maintain the fiction that they actually own the chips to keep them from being used in a way that might violate their copyright or in a manner that might negatively effect the casino (or it's image) they have to occassionally asert that the private possession is really a license to use the chip, and not a right to the chip.

When I worked at Millwer Brewing Company (when it was owned by Phillip Morris), they often ran very short runs of beer such as Players, Marlboro, and all sorts of other labels for which they owned the rights. This was to avoid lapsing of the copyright and trademark.

Earl and Bubba, two good ole boys from Texas are quietly sitting in a boat fishing, chewing and drinking beer when suddenly Bubba says, "I think I'm going to divorce my wife - she hasn't spoke to me in over 2 months."