One of the chippers that works in the casino industry can probably answer more precisely, but I'll give it a shot anyway.

1.A change of rack chips may occur (voluntarily) if a casino changes its identity (as an example, when MGM Grand Theme Park decided to de-emphasize the Theme Park and issued all new chips). Or it may occur if they need new chips due to wear, or expansion of table games, etc. Sometimes the new chips augment existing ones and both issues co-exist, at least for a while. Other times (marketing change, new name, etc., and especially if new ownership), then a new rack replaces the old rack. New owners usually replace chips for security and liability reasons, however, a few racks were NOT changed with new owners: examples -- Fiesta, when acquired by Stations Casinos; Mirage/Treasure Island/Golden Nuggets, when acquired by MGM.

2. I don't know what Vacation Village did with their older chips. A local should be able to tell us.

3. Turnaround time is 4-6 months, as a guess. I know it took about 3-4 months from the time the club's poker tournament NCV chips were submitted for manufacture & gaming approval. It's possible that the leadtime could be even quicker for a small production run. And longer if you're a large casino (say, the Venetian, when it opened that needed lots of chips for lots of tables).

4.The size of order also depends on the # and type of tables. For a low-roller place like VV, they would use mostly $1's and $5's, and need fewer $25's and up. A higher limit place would use more high-denoms. Each BJ table has about 500-600 chips per tray (or less if they use tokens for $1's and fractionals). Each craps table uses probably 4-5 times as many chips as a BJ table. Also remember that the main cage may have as many chips as on all the tables on the floor...or more.

5. The Nevada gaming commission does issue a list of approved chips & tokens. Published monthly. There is a charge for subscribing.