I am going to make some enemies here, but I agree in part with Kirk.
I look at what the casinos are doing with their strikes and capules. Putting old strikes in colored capsules. Anyone can do that! It might cause us to believe there is a variation. IGT might be responsible? A good chance. This just has to hurt the hobby and values on your collection. I don't believe that anyone who reads this doesn't give consideration to the value of what they are collecting.
A casino conspiracy - I don't think so. I believe the slot managers must think about other people that enjoy the strikes but are of a different croud. Like during the 50 weeks when the strikers are NOT in town. I live here, see different people on the machines most of the time, but they are rarely silver strikers - excluding the first week of a new release.
Kirk is doing nothing to hurt this group of collectors. I don't agree on how he does it, but it should be a message to wake people up. The industry that supposedly caters to US . . . is changing the rules.