I may be totally wrong but I worry that in the very near future casinos will get rid of chips completely. But then I am the guy who thought that TITO would never be accepted. If they do get rid of chips we may be in the same boat as the silver strike collectors. That does not mean that rare is not still rare, just that there are fewer people chasing it. I never thought we would see people on the chipboard selling current $5 chips for $4.50 with free shipping!

Long story short, collect what you like as long as you don't need the money for something else. Hopefully the economy will pick up along with interest in chip collecting. Good luck either way.