‘Tokens’ of Las Vegas history on display at casino collectibles show

There’s likely hundreds of thousands of poker chips inside the Gold Coast’s California ballrooms, and to some, their value is priceless.

Collectors and dealers from the Southern Nevada Casino Collectibles Club showed off their poker chips, tokens, drink stirrers, card decks, matchbooks and more on Friday, the first day of its first memorabilia show.

Club leadership hopes showing off the history of old Vegas will encourage more people to join or visit a meeting, which is held monthly at 6 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month at El Cortez Hotel and Casino.

Brad Smith, the club’s publicity chair, said many locals don’t even realize the social group of gaming and history aficionados exists.