I know Chinese new year is February 10th, but will the casinos realease the chips prior to that? I will be in Vegas until Feb 9th and wasn't sure if they would release on Friday/Saturday the 8th/9th or do they not come out until that day.
I never seen any Chinese New Years chips. I've been there several years at that time. Mainly at mirage and didn't see any
Pretty much every casino has them, I have a ton in my collection. I typically have to order them from someone though as I'm not out there that time of year. Hopefully someone has an idea...I hate paying $15 for an $8 chip.
LVA tends to post in their news when the chips come out at each property. You may also want to get the special edition Total Rewards card, too.
And I've never seen an $8 chip before either. Chinese New Years or not. There may be some place they sell them for collectors, but I go to Vegas end of jan or beginning of feb every year. Some years this coincides with Chinese New Years and I have never seen a commemorative chip is use at the tables.
Generally people collect these chips - they don't use them at the tables. We collect the Wynn ones - they usually don't come out very close to the actual date - and are still usually available a few weeks afterwards. You get them at the main cage.
The Palms usually has special chips such as for chinese new years. They are only available at the cashier cage but the problem is that the collectors usually scoop them all up so they can resell at inflated prices. There are some special numbers for chinese, that's why they might have some chips that aren't in the general ($1, $5, $25, etc.) denominations. Some numbers are considered lucky and so they have these special chips available. I am not sure if they bring out the chips earlier than chinese new years but I know by weeks end most of them are gone. Not sure where else they offer chinese new years chips but I have seen them on the net (eBay) from other casinos so I guess they are available elsewhere. Gregsmt, if you see the special chinese new years chips in $1 or $5 or denominations under $10, pick up a bunch of them. You can always sell them to us, I'm sure a number of us will buy them from you as long as you don't ask for an exhorbitant amount, otherwise you can sell them on ebay.
Ok. I see them on eBay. I never knew they did that. I will check when I'm out there and see if they are released early enough or me to get some and I will post back on here what I find. If someone wants me to check anywhere in particular, you can email or message me. But I leave Vegas on jan 30th so I'm not sure if the timing is right
Wish I had known this as this year is my sign (snake) and would love to have added some to my collection.
For anyone looking to acquire Chinese New Year chips this year, hate to tell you but there won't be any. The Nevada Gaming Control Board recently changed the regulations allowing casinos to sell chips at the casino cage. At least 8 casinos had designs for the popular chips but all canceled due to the new regulations.
what kind of regulation changes? But can they put out the special chips on the tables? I remember seeing special chips at the palms, even at the fremont and MSS downtown and other places. Does that mean that they can't put out special chips or just that they won't be available at the cage? would be so much easier to buy them at the cage so I'm not sure why the change after so many years.
I'd like to know what the new regulations are as well. I've always gotten the chips that I collect from the cage as it's always been the easiest way to do it.
Wish I had the exact language from the regulation, if I can find it I will post it. It basically says that casinos may no longer sell casino chips from the casino cage and that they WILL enforce the regulation. That caused one of the most chip collector friendly casino's, The Palms", to remove the frame of chips they had mounted on the wall near the cage showing pass releases and chips available for sale. The frame has been removed and now sits "inside" the casino cage. The Hard Rock still sells chips, but they announce the realease date on their website and details to purchase. The morning of release they are brought out and sold to those in line, they do not sell them from the casino cage. Leftovers are put into circulation. The reason most casinos cancelled their Chinese New Years chips is for one, most are oversized, 43mm and second, the denomination is $8. Even if it is a standard chip, 39mm, the denomination would make for too much trouble to release into circulation. Therefore, at least eight casinos cancelled the chips they had ordered.