The Casino Collectibles Association is dedicated to the growing hobby of collecting casino memorabilia and the preservation of gaming history. Every year at their annual show four educational seminars related to gaming history are offered at no charge to the public.
Each seminar will be presented in the Joshua Room of the South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Attendees are asked to arrive before each presentation’s scheduled start time. The audience will be encouraged to pose questions of the speakers at the completion of each seminar.
The seminar topics, speakers and appearance times are as follows:
Bahamian Rhapsody – The history of casinos in the Bahamas. Charles Kaplan is the current Chairman of the Museum of Gaming History. He is also the curator of the ChipGuide, the most comprehensive reference guide available for casino chip collectors, featuring a free on-line image database of over 285,000 gaming chips and memorabilia from worldwide casinos. Kaplan’s presentation will cover the time period after the mob was kicked out of Cuba by Castro’s revolution, when they sought other venues to ply their trade. The nearby Bahamas was one of their first targets. Gambling was illegal in the Bahamas until the Duke of Windsor, then the Governor of the Bahamas, issued an exemption for a seasonal casino at a private club on Cat Cay Island in 1939. The story is complicated and complex involving corrupt government officials, swindlers, the mob, a future President of the United States, a television celebrity and several billionaires. Seminar: Thursday, June 16 at 8 a.m.
How the chip market is affected by “sudden” new finds. Oscar Lappalainen has been immersed in the casino collectibles world and valuating chips and tokens on a daily basis for years through his work at Spinettis Gaming Supplies, and through the tutelage of CCA Life Member Mike Spinetti. His collecting hobby has expanded to include making casino history videos available on YouTube. Lappalainen will talk about the barrage of large quantities of “rare” chips that surfaced last year, and the affect this has had on the valuations of casino chips in the marketplace. Seminar: Thursday, June 16 at 3 p.m.
Collecting and Researching Silver Tokens. Dennis Berry, a coin collector since he was 12, got the silver token collection bug in 1994 when he discovered them at the Boomtown Casino in Verdi, Nevada. He is a charter member of the Silver Strike Club and the author of World Denominational Casino Tokens Silver and Gold. His presentation will cover his experiences over a quarter century collecting, researching and valuating casino silver tokens. Seminar: Friday, June 17 at 8 a.m.
Hot Oklahoma Nights. Paul Schaffer, a former Guinness World Record holder of the Largest Chip and Token Collection and CCA Life member has a passion for researching and collecting Oklahoma casino chips and tokens. His presentation will cover Oklahoma gaming from the beginning to present day, including how Native American cultures influence chip design. Through his collection he will share stories from his many travels to the Sooner State, highlighting his favorite and rarest Oklahoma chips. Seminar: Friday, June 17 at 3 p.m.
Public invited to attend these free seminars.
The free seminars run concurrently with the Casino Collectibles Association’s 29th annual show, which runs June 16-18, 2022. Featuring museum-like exhibits and over 50 dealers of casino memorabilia from all over the world, the public is invited to join in the fun of examining, buying, selling, trading or even evaluating casino collectibles and mementos. These include gaming chips, tokens, dice, slot cards, playing cards, matchbooks, menus, dinnerware, swizzle sticks, post cards – just about anything with a casino name or logo on it. There is a slight admission charge for the show floor on Thursday and Friday. Show admission is free on Saturday.
The Casino Chips and Collectibles Show registration and admission is open to the public June 17, 10 AM – 5 PM (admission $10), June 18, 9 AM – 4 PM (admission $5) and June 19, 9 AM – 4 PM (admission is free). Location is Exhibit Hall C at the South Point Hotel Casino, 9777 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, Nevada.
