Gene had different jobs at the various casinos he worked in over the years. He worked the poker rooms, both daily games as well as organizing tournaments, and also oversaw the chip and token programs. Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, commemorative chips was big business for the casinos. They could make a chip for a fraction of the face value, so every chips purchased and not returned was profit for the casino.

Gene knew this and as such, places like the Four Queens and the Palms were a virtual mill for putting out commemorative chips.

Keeping track of the chips throughout their lives was part of the job for Gene. The below spreadsheet shows the destruction schedule for some of the commemorative chips from the Four Queens in 1996. Seems like good information for those who collect these chips. Sure they made 500 of the Texas $100 chips, but they destroyed 263 of them, leaving only 237 in the wild.

Also found were Artwork Approvals for chips and tokens. The below is an example for a silver strike.

Gene must have good at his job as I found many “Pat of the Back” certificates from the Four Queens – kind of an Employee of the Month thing.