Hi Andy,

It looks pretty simple to me. If a player is known by management to play some games at a high $ rate, and collects chips from games that they don't play, there is no danger of a non-value chip bought by this gambler being re-introduced into the game at a higher specified value. That's why the only roulette chips in my collection have a denomination on them (thank you Paris Las Vegas). Even the Paris was reluctant to let me color a few $5's for a couple $10's early on in my first session there. I told them upfront that I was a collector, but I was also a player. I proved that by buying in the next night using a $1000 jeton kept from the night before.

It's all about money. If you gamble large, doors open that aren't open to everyone. That shouldn't be news to anyone. The availability of tough stuff increases by an order of magnitude when you play large or know somebody, and if you play large, they know you and often make a point of making sure that you know them.....

Bob