[The Suncoast, Boulder Station, Fiesta, Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Tropicana, Riviera, Main Street Station, Monte Carlo, MGM and Fremont. Does anyone know what these casinos have in common?]

This is such an easy question to answer.

The casinos listed above don't have any greedy speculators there who pay stooges to monopolize machines so that the strikes won can be sold at a profit. These are the same greedy speculators who use weasel words to pretend (lie) that they are only helping other people, as opposed to the main goal of making a profit.

The casinos listed above don't have backdoor deals with greedy speculators who sell strikes that haven't even been issued yet, like the Palms Playboy strikes. Say, isn't this the same Playboy that exploits women? That doesn't say much for the family values of collecting silver strikes, does it? What's the next design? Porn stars? How come the club and chapter don't take a stand on this issue? Or are they just about profit, too?

The casinos listed above don't issue high denomination strikes in such low quantities as to guarantee that the greedy speculators and their paid stooges will make windfall profits.

The casinos listed above no longer let rickerfraud come in to get strikes to sell on Ebay, or jackpot, using shill bidders to bump up the prices.

The casinos listed above don't try to cheat newcomers with fake deals, or ridiculous one-sided swap offers (like offering cheap stuff in exchange for a $200 joker strike).

Hey, speaking of exploiting newcomers, who are largely thought of as fresh meat for the greedy speculators, does this do good things for the hobby? Once ripped off by a seasoned collector do these newcomers leave the hobby with a bad taste in their mouths? The club and chapter were supposed to promote the hobby. Instead, they promote an "official" venue to rip off the unsuspecting, which is exactly what charter members wanted. Oh, and what do newcomers think of a club that promotes the selling and swapping of stolen ashtrays?