Earlier today i urged everyone to write to Collector's Universe to oppose the slabbing of casino chips:

Below is the text of my letter which I will be sending out tomorrow.

Dear Mr. Hall:

As a casino chip collector and President of the Slabfree Chapter of the Casino Chip & Gaming Token Collectors Club I would like to thank you for sending Steve Rocchi to our recent convention in Las Vegas.

As there is an apparent movement to bring slabbing to the casino chip collecting HOBBY, your willingness to address our questions and concerns is important to us.

Mr. Rocchi indicated that you have not yet made a decision as to whether or not to begin slabbing casino chips. I would like to take this opportunity to summarize briefly why your company should not enter the casino chip HOBBY.

The primary reason for you is that it will not be profitable. This is so for the following reasons.

1) The casino chip HOBBY, although growing is still a reasonably small hobby as compared to coin collecting or sports card collecting. The only organized group of collectors (which represents most of the serious collectors) is the CC>CC which has approximately 2,500 members.
2) Amongst this membership is an active and organized opposition to casino chip slabbing. We do not believe that any such organized opposition existed when you entered the coin and card hobbies. We have already identified over 330 collectors who have stated that they will not do any business with any dealer who deals in slabbed chips. Many more collectors have announced that while not boycotting all dealers, they themselves will never own a slabbed chip.
3) Virtually no chip collectors have spoken in favor of slabbing.
4) Unlike the coin collecting hobby there is no commonly accepted “Sheldon Scale.” In as much as many collectors would like to see a standard grading scale, none have been able to agree on a scale. Most collectors prefer a simple 4 or 5 grade scale which requires only cursory examination of the chip and no particular expertise. The one published 100 point scale is virtually never used. In fact even its author frequently auctions off chips without any reference to their grade under this scale.
5) At our recent convention, ICG, which is currently slabbing casino chips, had a table, and its salesman had virtually no visitors at the table. They abandoned their table a day early.

As you can see the effect of organized opposition within a small HOBBY can be devastating to a new venture such as you are proposing. This is especially true when you consider that casino chips are significantly different from coins and cards, not truly prone to slabbing.

I suggest that for the sake of my HOBBY and for the sake of your shareholders that do not introduce slabbing to the chip HOBBY.

I remain willing to discuss these matters with you should you seek further input.

vty