Well Mr. Dan, I need to throw my “two cents” into the ring. I’m one of the “two times” a year Las Vegas visitor and I agree with you and Ralph 100%. There are 10% of our club members causing 90% of the problems with the casinos and casino managers and yes, it’s all attitudes. We went through all this back when the $200’s were changed from gold plated to decaled. The grumbling and opinions ran in abundance. We lost a percentage of 200 collectors “I’m not collecting $200’s anymore” was the call and those that considered it just another branch of the hobby stuck it out and we’re back to all silver and the gold plating. So, where are we at with the HSP and clad coins ? One, it’s a way to keep the machines and coins in the casino’s. Two it’s a way to keep the machines at .25 cents to keep the tourist playing, make no mistake, without the tourist we would have NO hobby today. The reason those few machines are still on the casino floors is because the slot managers can provide the bean counters with facts that they are making money, tourist dollars. One hundred and fifty diehard collectors and maybe another hundred and fifty iffy collectors are not going to support the play needed to maintain the machines. The .50 & Dollar slot machines are a dying breed in Vegas, they are being replaced by the penny machines which far out weigh the amount of all others except the .25 cent machines which are still going strong.
So what is “CLAD” ? Just another branch of our hobby waiting for silver prices to drop ? If the 10% of you non-clad collectors decide not to collect them, no big deal, the machines will still be played and it will be just a temporary ripple in the big picture. Us twice a year collectors will have to step up and do more when we’re there.
Positives are what make the program go forward, if you don’t want to collect them great, please let the rest of us enjoy our hobby. Do I personally like them, no. Will I continue to collect them, yes.
Jeff Bitzer