I’d like to provide a little story/background (“wax nostalgic” as they say) as to why I chose each chip.
I tend to be a little verbose when I write and I don’t wish to bore anyone – so skip all this stuff if you want, I won’t be offended and there won’t be a test at the end.

I have been fortunate over the years to have taken many memorable vacations. I never considered myself a collector, most of the chips I have, were taken as souvenirs from casinos I visited on one of those vacations. During the early years of our marriage (we’ve been married over 41 years), my wife and I often went to the Caribbean, especially before gambling came to Atlantic City. In more recent years, we have been extremely fortunate to have taken more “grand” vacations to many parts of the world. We like big cities and our more recent trips have included: Sydney, Melbourne, Tokyo, Beijing, Hong Kong, Macao, Singapore, Bangkok, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Lima, Istanbul, Prague, Jerusalem, Venice, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and most of Western Europe.

I realize there are some Chippers who are less fortunate than I am to have the time and financial ability to have travelled as extensively as we have – for those, I hope someday you get the chance to travel someplace you’ve always dreamed of and if there’s a casino there, win big!

Chup 1: From the Casino at Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico, the first casino I ever gambled in - on my honeymoon in 1968. I can’t remember if I collected this particular chip on my honeymoon or on one of our subsequent vacations there. For those of you old enough to remember him, Henry Morgan of TV’s “What’s My Line” was gambling in the casino at the time we were there. On one of our other vacations there, Susan Lucci of TV’s “All My Children” was vacationing there for a whole week. We got friendly during our stay and gambled together every night. I remember my wife holding hands with her and jumping up and down when they hit a $5 “Yo” at the Craps table. On yet another vacation trip there, we also gambled shoulder to shoulder, one night with Bryant Gumble at Cerromar Beach, Dorado’s sister resort. Sadly, when I drove out there in 2007 while on vacation in San Juan, the hotel and casino were closed with grass growing through the driveway and sidewalks by the main entrance. I understand some group bought the property and plans to redevelop both Dorado Beach and Cerromar, but who knows what will happen with the economy the way it is.

Chip 2: A few years after we were married we did an “If It’s Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium” kind of trip to Europe on our own: Lisbon, Madrid, Rome, Florence, Monte Carlo, Cannes, Nice and Paris. Lisbon was our first stop. We were young and very unworldly – it was our first trip outside of the U.S. and Caribbean area. I don’t remember doing due diligence for this trip from a touring point of view. After we got settled in our “Europe on $5 a Day” Hotel, we walked outside and made a right turn. We walked a few blocks into a less than pretty neighborhood of Lisbon. My wife and I look at each other and both think ‘Is this what Europe is like?”. We disappointedly walk back to our hotel and asked the desk clerk where everything was? He told us to go out of the hotel and make a left (not a right) which we did and in a few blocks we come upon this most beautiful, wide, tree-lined boulevard that begins the main part of central Lisbon. On our second day in Lisbon, we become very brave and adventurous and decide to go to the train station to take a half hour train ride out to the resort area of Estoril and go to the famous casino there. This is where this chip is from. Coincidentally I just finished reading a novel “The Company of Strangers” a WWII spy novel in which Lisbon, Estoril and the Casino play a significant role – It brought back fond memories.

Chip 3: Also on this “If It’s Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium” trip we stopped in Monte Carlo. Of course we visited the world famous Casino. I had been reading a lot of Ian Fleming (James Bond – 007) at the time and I couldn’t help fantasizing being James Bond as I gambled in that famous casino.

Chip 4: From my second visit to Puerto Rico (circa 1972). The first time I ever won in a casino, The Flamboyan. I remember my wife standing behind me taking chips off the table and holding them in a basket she formed with her dress. We won $300, a fortune to us at the time. I remember the casino taking us into their offices and questioning us when we tried to cash in. I was young and naïve and didn’t know why they just didn’t give us our money right away.

Chip 5: Most valuable chip in my collection. Collected on my very first trip to Las Vegas from a Blackjack table at the Dunes in 1970’s, before the South Tower was built

Chip 6: From a vacation to St. Maarten. Can’t remember exactly what year this was (sometime in the 70’s ?). It seems we vacationed here before St. Maarten became a really popular spot. We loved Mullet Bay and returned to vacation here 3 years in a row. This complex has also closed down.

Chip 7: From a vacation to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic (circa early 1980’s – sometime just before casinos opened in Atlantic City). I remember being intrigued by this Jaragua Casino and I liked the chip. Sidenote: We left for this trip from JFK Airport in New York, some 65 miles from my home in New Jersey. When we got to the airport I realized I had stupidly left our passports at home. The airline officials told us they could let us fly to Santo Domingo, but Immigration there would not let us into the country and would put us on the next flight back. We decided to take the chance and when we arrived and moved through Immigration, I presented my Driver’s License. The official at Immigration looked at my license, holding it upside down and waived us through. None-the-less, we felt a little uncomfortable without our passports for the week we spent there.

Chip 8: This chip is from the Rendez-Vous Club in London. This was from a trip sometime in the late 80’s or early 90’s I believe. I remember that you had to apply for membership a few days before you wanted to gamble in London, which we did. This was a very weird experience for us. When we entered the small casino (about 20 tables as I remember it), we were the only Americans; everyone else who was gambling was Arab, some with full Kafiyah and robe. The only other people were the British dealers and the young British women escorts who accompanied these Arab gentlemen. I felt very odd at this casino, it was full; and one Arab gentleman came up behind me and placed huge bets (hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth) piggybacking alongside my equivalent $10 worth of British Pounds. I lost a huge amount of money for him.

Chip 9: This jeton was collected in Macao on a side trip from Hong Kong in 2000. I can’t recall if I got this from the famous Lisboa Hotel or a floating casino we passed on a walk just outside the downtown area. I think both casinos were owned by the S.T.D.M. group at the time. We had heard about the gambling in Macao – something to the effect that there was more gambling there than any place else in the world including Las Vegas or Atlantic City. Since then, we know there has been tremendous casino development, but at the time, in 2000, I didn’t see this expanse of gambling. There were no huge gambling areas in the two casinos we went into. Maybe there were some back rooms we didn’t see, but I didn’t see the physical gambling space I had expected. It’s a mystery to me to this day.

Chip 10: Sydney, Australia contends with Paris as our favorite city in the world (with Istanbul, Bangkok and Barcelona not too far behind - also, we think, with everything we’ve read, that Shanghai may join that list after we visit there this summer). Anyway, this chip is from the Star City Casino in Sydney, Australia and is included in my Top 10 as it is from the furthest place from home I’ve ever been.

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