February 3 ushered in the Lunar New Year and Chinese Year of the Rabbit and, as in past years, a number of casinos will be marking the festivities with special commemorative chips, usually in the $8 denomination, since the number eight is considered particularly auspicious in many Asian cultures. These limited-edition chips are especially collectible and are worth considerably more than their face value to collectors -- we've already seen the Palms 2011 Year of the Rabbit chips for sale online at $11.99 for the $8 chip and $34.99 for the $25 denomination, while we found an $8 Rio chip from 2008's Year of the Rat selling for $16.
Here's what we found when we called around to the cage at those casinos that have traditionally offered commemorative chips for Chinese New Year:
Bally's: There are a few $8 Chinese New Year chips left, with a maximum of three per person.
Bellagio: There's an $8 Year of the Rabbit chip available from the cage; purchase is limited to 10 chips per person.
Caesars Palace: They've issued an $8 commemorative chip and there's no limit on how many you may purchase, but they're almost sold out.
Harrah's: This year the $8 chips were given out as part of a Chinese New Year promotion, and they've all gone. They may get more delivered for general purchase; the cage wasn't sure. They do have plenty of last year's Year of the Ox chips left, however.
MGM Grand: These were released out on the games last week; they're not available to purchase from the cage, you just have to request them at the table and hope you get lucky.
M Resort is celebrating with Chinese New Year décor throughout, including tangerine trees and lanterns, and is selling $8 chips at the cage.
Palms: As we mentioned in the introduction, the Palms has both $8 and $25 commemorative chips available (they don't have the $100 denomination that they've issued in the past).
Rio: They've sold out of $8 chips, so you have to hope that people cash some in and you can try next week. When they were still in stock, the cage was enforcing a five-chip minimum per person.
Wynn: They still have $8 Year of the Rabbit chips at the cage, and there's no limit on how many you may purchase.
Interestingly, Caesars Entertainment has also issued a Year of the Rabbit Total Rewards Club, which you can request for free from the players club. These will likely also become collectible.
