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Winnipeg Free Press
Collectors collect on casino chips
It helps if gangster owned establishment
By: Rick Morrison
27/09/2009
There are two main ways to make money from gambling: by counting cards in a game of blackjack without getting distracted or caught by security and by profitably investing in casino companies. The first option works only if you are allowed to raise your bet when the odds are genuinely in your favour. The second succeeds only when casino operators are doing well.
There is a third, arguably more interesting option -- to collect casino chips. On Monday, for example, a seller on eBay raked in US$1,000 for a single $25 chip from the Golden Nugget casino in Las Vegas. Last week, a $1 chip from the Alpine Club in Ely, Nev., which operated from 1944 to 1955, paid off US$455 for its owner, and a 50-cent chip from the Mint Pan Room in Las Vegas sold for US$400. The previous day, a bidder offered US$320 to win a $25 chip from the Town House casino in Reno, Nev., which opened in 1932 and was torched by its leaseholder in 1955.
"I found you need to be quite selective in the chips you collect if you want to do it as an investment -- or be prepared to hang on to them long, long-term," says Michael Behiel, a collector from Regina, who says his 1,200-chip hoard has tripled in value in the last 10 years. "I tried for awhile to do flips for profit and found that most of the mainstream chips around today are far too common to even break even on."
Unlike shareholders whose portfolios of stocks are designed only for profit, casino chip collectors -- many of whom are ardent gamblers -- cherish what they own and give little thought to profits or losses. Those who want to profit from casino chips, however, should remember the rule for all collectibles: rarity and condition are key. A medium-denomination chip of which few examples are known, that is in uncirculated or nearly new condition and comes from a closed casino will almost always be prized by collectors, says Sheldon Smith, education and publicity director at the 2,000-member Casino Chip & Gaming Token Collectors Club.
Rarity is important. Earlier this month, a set of five Lilly Belle $25 chips from the Black Hawk Casino in Colorado attracted 23 bids on eBay before selling for US$639.09. The chips are indeed rare: only 45 of them were made in 1992. Along with rarity, chips from "notorious" casinos often hold allure for collectors, Smith says.
Fortunately, notoriety is fairly common in this industry: the Aladdin, Circus Circus, Desert Inn, Dunes, El Cortez, Flamingo, Fremont, Hacienda, Pair-O-Dice, Riviera, Sands, Stardust, Tropicana and Thunderbird were all owned by gangsters at one time or another, and that's just in Las Vegas. (For US$56.25, chip collectors interested in further research on these locations can climb aboard the "Vegas Mob Tour" bus for a two-hour tour: vegasmobtour.com. The guides wear pinstripes and fedoras.)
There are a few Holy Grails in the hobby: A $100 chip from the Tropicana Hotel, which opened in 1957, has sold for US$100,000, a $5 chip from the Sands Hotel brought US$33,000, and a $1 chip from the Showboat went for $24,000, Smith says.
In October 2005, the Platinum Collection, a huge collection of 6,600 casino chips and tokens, many from casinos that closed between the 1930s and the '50s, sold on eBay for US$1 million. The most significant item in the collection was a $1 token made in platinum by the Franklin Mint in 1965 for Bill Harrah, founder of Harrah's. Along with eBay, collectors can find chips at Heritage Casino Chips (heritagecasinochips.com), Old Vegas Chips (oldvegaschips.com), Casino Rarities (casinorarities.com), Jackpot Auctions (jackpot-auctions.com) or dice702.com, and can check prices in The Official U.S. Casino Chip Price Guide, by James Campiglia and Steve Wells.
Among the chips in his collection, Behiel says his favourite is one from the ominously named World Trade Center Casino in Las Vegas. Inlaid with 24-karat gold flake, the chip was never used because Leonard Shoen, the casino's owner, committed suicide before it opened. The 85-year-old co-founder of U-Haul truck rentals drove his car into a telephone pole in 1999. Two of his partners were convicted felons, his children fought over his U-Haul fortune and his daughter-in-law was murdered. The state coroner ruled his death a suicide.
It is common for casino owners to suffer unfortunate accidents: In June 1947, Bugsy Siegel, the impetus behind the Flamingo, was killed in a hail of gunfire through a window while reading a newspaper in a friend's home. The crime remains unsolved. In 1955, Anthony (Tony the Hat) Cornero, builder of the Stardust Resort & Casino, died suddenly while shooting craps at the Desert Inn. Although the official report listed a heart attack, others suspected his drink had been poisoned.
Three years later, Gus Greenbaum, who had taken control of the Flamingo after Siegel's murder, was murdered along with his wife. Ted Binion, whose father Benny was owner of Binion's Horseshoe, was found dead in 1998. His apparent drug overdose had been staged, police said. Binion had 100,000 rare coins worth between US$7 million and US$14 million, together with cash, Horseshoe Casino chips and six tons of silver bullion hidden in a concrete vault beneath the desert west of Las Vegas.
Collectors face risks of another sort. Sometimes, a flood of chips from a long-closed casino will be released on the market, Behiel says. "This certainly has a detrimental effect on the values."
Most collectors trade with each other, exchanging chips they can get locally. Living in Regina, Behiel was able to pop into the Aseneskak Casino in The Pas, Man., and the Sky Dancer Casino in Belcourt, N.D. Both were isolated casinos. On one auction, he got US$21 for a current-use $1 chip from the Sky Dancer.
Asked if he was a gambler, Mr. Smith says: "My wife and I have a motto: Since we can't win them, we buy them!"
--Canwest News Service
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