The "Illegal Of The Day" team were hijacked for this one. It is a little long but well worth the read.

Westen Charles found the Intercaribe chips a couple months ago. He asked for the hub record and it was a big surprise to me. Florida! We can only hope. Has to be Caribbean, in our opinions.

OK lets go to work. Below you will read a lot of research done on the chips. We brought in everyone we knew that had knowledge of the Caribbean. Including one that did not want his name used as he was in the DR.

I hope I have the research in readable order. John Genualdi has a $5 hub as a UFC. Thanks to Michael Siskin for contact info for Ralph Pollack and New Jersey Bob Ginsburg. If I get a reply from NJ Bob before I upload tomorrow, I will add it. Charles Kaplan chipped in with the 1st newspaper article below. Once again our "Friend Of The Hobby" filled a lot of holes. If I forgot to give credit to any one please forgive me and chime in.

This was the biggest team effort on research to date. Unfortunately to date we cannot say for sure we have an ID. I have an opinion. What's yours?

We are hoping one of you guys out there come up with a matchbook, dice, ash tray. etc.

Enough of that:

F.J. (Bud) Sweet
738 N. Crescent Dr.
Hollywood, FL
No date. $1 and $5 denoms.
They were shipped to someone in Florida but I would bet they are Caribbean.
Hubs would likely be a reorder from Mason, the dies are different.
Smky saw some good play, with rounded edges. (see attached)

Westen

I'm ccing Gene on this.... Gene, could you please look into the dice die records that are available, maybe there will be something there to help.
Thanks again gents...

My note: No dice records found in what we have access to.

Westen
Date range for the chip order: Oct.1958--Mar.1978
The house at 738 N Crescent was built in 1958. The Sweet’s purchased the property in October 1958.
When Bud divorced his wife in March 1978 they were still in possession of the house. Ex-wife sold it in 1980.
In 1961, when the articles I sent say Bud was operating in Curacao & Ciudad Trujillo.

Email reply from Louis Alvarez who is writing a book on the Dominican Republic rules out the DR.
(regarding Sweet's DR casino)

In regards to your question. First, that chip is NOT FROM THE DR For Sure. The name Ciudad Trujillo implies that the Dictator was alive in his last days or had died but still quite a bit of chaos in the DR. The name was switched to Santo Domingo within a year after his death.
During his era there were only 3 casinos, La Voz Dominicana, Jaragua and Embajador. That was it. The Voz was owned and managed by the family and closed soon after the death of Trujillo. It was the Govrmnt voice (radio Station) and it represented the hated regime. So, it was closed and burned.
The Jaragua was managed by an American Company from the beginning, although owned by the Trujillos, same story with the Embajador. So, the person you mentioned may have "managed" either the Jaragua or Embajador, but the ownership was 100% Trujillo, like everything in the island.
The chip for many other reason, including the name, could not be from the DR. No casinos opened for a long time after Trujillos death. The country was in chaos for a while, there was a revolution and tourism attracted few. The first era of casinos in the DR is well documented. Now, is one of the top 5 countries wit # of casinos per capita. And that is just the legal ones/
Luis

I sent an email to a friend that manages a casino there, he worked under some of the older owners from the Chantilly, he may have some info if it is from DR
Talk to you soon,
Westen

Email from the friend:
Hi,
It seems that these plans were never concluded. May 1961 , Dictator Rafael Trujillo was assassinated after 31 years of regime and the following years were very messed up. These ended in a Civil up rise in 1965, and a US-led invasion to the country.

The casino Bud was operating in Curacao was the Inter-Continental.
Credit to Charles Kaplan for this article.

Hey again Friend,
The city directory has "Bud" at:
H. 1544 Jefferson in (1958) and then
H. 738 N Crescent Dr. in (1960) "where the chips were delivered"
Can you tell how long he was at that address? That may give us a better time period. I can't find city directory past 1960 online.
1960 is kind of early for Bonaire or Curacao but possible.
1st Casino in Curacao is the Inter-Continental Curacao, opened in 57'
1st Casino in Bonaire" in "Casino Bonaire" opened in 64'
Weston.

Cool find Westen. Floyd died in 2006 in Hollywood, FL. The Savoy, TX guy has no connection to him.
My note: We had a different FJ Sweet in Savoy, TX that had to be eliminated.

Floyd’s obit from 2006 (plenty of relatives listed if you want to contact some :

He was associated with several casinos in the Caribbean, including the Hilton Curacao and the Casino Bonaire in Nederland Antilles (as well as stuff in Florida).

July 24, 1961:

Dec. 22, 1961:

pic of Sweet and John Scarne circa 1966 at Bonaire (Scarne is playing slots):

1965--

1972--

Post mentioning Sweet on the Chip Board:
http://www.thechipboard.com/archives/archives.pl/bid/318/md/read/id/741205/sbj/ex-special-chip-added-to-the-caribbean-chipguide/

Info from Ralph Pollack
Hi Gene
Yes, I have correspondence from Sally Sweet
Some dates in the research do not jive with her dates........
Will do more research
Hi Gene
FACTS;
1. I do know that Bud had chips made with "FJS" on it with the Ewing mold and ordered in 1969, 1,5 25 & 100 dollars denominations
2. His first time in Curacao @ Intercontinental was 1959, before that he was in DR
Best
Ralph

Scan credit to Chipguide.
http://www.caribbeanchipguide.com/chip2.php?primarykey=curhil&sort=type

Opinions are welcome. Sometimes the smallest clue can trigger new research and give us the answer we are searching for..