I think this entire situation is a viewpoint question. The question is which side of the fence you are standing on.
As a collector who lives on the East Coast I might view the situation from the NIS point of view. If the new issue suppliers can not get enough chips, I will either be shut out or have to pay a hefty premium.

Now living on the East Coast if there were chips that were pre sold to dealers and there were none left for the collector, I may be apt to view this completely differently.

There is NO perfect solution.

I do not agree totally with the comment that chips are created to bring people into the casino's. I would guess that the majority of these chips are created with PROFIT in mind. When you can sell a .64 chip for $5.00 I would consider that a hefty return on investment.

Perhaps one thing to consider would be to limit purchases dependant on the issue size.

The idea of increasing issue sizes is a double edged sword. One might be able to secure chips a lot easier if they were readily availabe however, if these chips were to languish in the casino cages with no one to buy them casinos would halt issuing chips

In Atlantic City The Claridge probably issued more collector chips than many of the other casino's combined. The result is that they are presently drowning in a glut of chips and haven't issued a chip in a long long time.

Recent issues by the Trump Plaza and Trump Marina which have been a lot smaller than previous issues have all sold out.
The Marina and Plaza in a shorspan of time issued a total of 17 chips.
Do you think that they will continue their chip program?
There is a message here somewhere.

I have suggested to some of the people at these casino's to post release information to give EVERYONE an equal shot of obtaining new chips.
If you can't be there ask a friend or your NIS you have no one to blame but yourself if you miss the boat.

Just some of my thoughts on this subject.....