The story does seem odd, and the guy with the chips is definitely on the weird side, but I doubt he's being dishonest. Actually, the chips are my father's that he got from the Beau Rivage a couple months back from his casino host as they were settling up the bill.

He was to understand they were free play chips (like the paper coupon you sometimes get - he said) that he could use at the tables. I have a feeling maybe he's mistaken and next time he goes he can give them to the casino host in exchange for something else like comps of "real" free play chips - maybe??? (What the heck do I know about riverboat chips anymore?)

He showed me the chips and of course I automatically thought, "maybe those are valuable". Probably not though. And of course knowing my dad, the eternal optimist, he would think the intrinsic value of the chips is the face value (instead of 50%) because of how awesome of a gambler he is!

I'll let him take them back to Biloxi eventually and see what happens.