If you visit this Archived Post ( http://www.thechipboard.com/archives/archives.pl/bid/317/md/read/id/644016/sbj/chuck-that-reminds-me-to-tell-about-stardust-dig/ ) from Augustof 2007, you will see where the construction project to build the Echelon Place (where the Stardust once stood) unearthed buried Stardust chips.

In a follow-up post (October 2007 - http://www.thechipboard.com/archives/archives.pl/bid/317/md/read/id/655864/sbj/craig-the-recent-stardust-dig-was-stated/ ) the find was again noted and Gene Trimble made this observation:

"There are tons of chips buried around LV."

Well, I had thought that this was a reference to chips/tokens being dropped into foundations of constructions projects, with the emphasis being to take advantage of an in-progress construction activity. Turns out, that sometimes, the cement was purposely brought in to affect a burial/destruction.

And this seems to have been the case for the Stardust chips discovered back in 2007. At the time, I had assumed that the bulldozers were tearing up the foundation of the Stardust (after the implossion) and discovered the chips entombed there. But according to a person I talked to last week, who was there, it looks like the undated burial project was specifically created for the chip/token destruction. What the construction crews came across was a huge block of cement, like a hole had been dug, a truckload of cement was brought in and they then dumped old chips and tokens into the wet cement. Allowed it to solidify and covered it over, where it remained hidden. Conjecture is, there could be more than one such block of cement around the property, as the entire area was not excavated.

This source is also familiar with a few other past chip/token burials (not at the Stardust), where a backhoe is used to dig a hole in the parking lot, a cement truck fills the hole and then chips and tokens are dumped in. This method is fairly simple and can be performed by a casino's maintenance/security personnel and is low profile, secure way to have destroyed chips and tokens and I can see why Gene said: "There are tons of chips buried around LV."

So, the next time you see a barricaded area of a casino parking lot with a backhoe nearby, you might have to wonder, are they doing utilities work, or?

Jim