Museum in the chips:

      To gamblers, casino chips offer an easy way to tally up winnings or losses. To casinos, they are essential supplies, marketing tools and a way to profit from America's latest collecting craze.
      Steve Cutler, 45, curator of the Nevada Gold Museum, understands all the uses of these brightly colored pieces of plastic.
      He was among the first to comprehend the mystique chips have for visitors and the potential they offer casinos beyond the green felt tables. He had been collecting chips and other casino memorabilia for 30 years in 1992 when he established a museum for them at the Pioneer, the Las Vegas gambling hall famous for its Vegas Vic sign.
      Not only did he run the museum, he created a six-piece set of limited edition casino chips that could be used to place bets at the table games but also commemorated the 50th anniversary of the casino.
      On one side was an image of Vegas Vic, the jaunty cigarette-smoking cowboy who came to symbolize Las Vegas. On the other side was a picture of the building when it opened in 1942. The casino created only 200 sets of the chips.
      Cutler also created a 12-set chip set, with denominations ranging from 25 cents to $100, for the Pioneer. This set showed pictures of various historic events in Nevada.
      "We had people standing in line to buy all these chips, not to gamble," Cutler said. "After that happened and it was on TV and everything, that was when nearly all the casinos jumped in. Now there's limited edition chips every week coming out."
      Casinos are turning out commemorative chips, not just to make money but also to market themselves to visitors.
      They produce chips to celebrate prize fights by Mike Tyson, the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, baseball greats, performers such as the late George Burns, grand openings of new casinos and gambling events, such as the World Series of Poker at Binion's Horseshoe.
      Cutler's museum at the Pioneer itself became part of history when the old downtown casino closed in June 1995 -- the victim of competition from new Las Vegas megaresorts. The collector found a bigger, better home for his treasured casino items at the Flamingo Hilton Reno. The Hilton set aside 2,000 square feet for the museum and now has relocated the museum to a larger home at the Flamingo's sister property in Laughlin.
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