One cannot just walk up to a dealer and begin a conversation (at most casinos) - there's a waiting list for playing card games - even Blackjack, once having the classic "C'mon, pardner, sit down and try your luck" greeting from a dealer. Dealers won't look through their racks for any special chips. If you spot one at the end of the rack, and the dealer isn't busy playing - sometimes you can buy that particular chip. It's pretty much "no sales of drop chips" all the time out here.

I was able to buy a couple of $2 drop chps recently at Morongo through the courtesy of a Pit Boss. Just the "luck of the draw" that he was in a somewhat friendly mood at that moment. But Las Vegas casinos have tougher rules about selling - sometimes, it's sell one drop chip and you are FIRED. So nobody wants to go out of their way to sneak one into a collector's hand.

All I can say is, those $2 Palms and $4 Sahara chips will wait around, until life returns to "normal" (if ever it does). Perhaps in the future some sales of those rare chips will be allowed.