Larry, I'm not sure I agree. BTW, my question isn't "why do casinos issue LEs" but "why do casinos issue LEs in such low quantities."

An edition of 50 isn't going to attract anyone to a casino, because they'll never see them. A chip that's attractive and put into play will attract both collectors and non-chip-collecting players, and many will never be cashed in. To work for marketing purposes, there have to be enough of the bloody things for people to see them.

One thing I think we have to be careful of is an elitist viewpoint. We're not the only people who take chips home without cashing them in. A ton of Las Vegas visitors every year keep chips with pictures of old cars on them, or pictures of dogs, or pictures of the hotels they've stayed at, just as souvenirs or curiosities, without ever becoming "true chip collectors."

And as for your comment that "if value wasn't a criteria, we'd all be collecting string," I propose that if money were the ONLY criterion, none of us would be collecting chips!

Michael