Casino Chip collector and man about town Gregg Fisher has once again been bursting through the doors of a newly opened casino / resort (this time with his lovely wife accompanying him!). News of the grand opening was music to his ears and arrived at Resorts World, NV, just 12 hours after it opened and had a glowing appraisal of it, deeming it ‘the best on the strip’. High praise indeed! In fact it’s the first new resort to open on the Las Vegas Strip in over a decade. With tens of food and drink options, three Hilton hotels, and a 117,000-square-foot casino, to say that the resort has a lot to offer would be an understatement.
So early was the casino chip world record holder to the venue that opened up a table for him. Without pause he captured images of their chips, and indeed the venue as a whole. This is a $4.3 billion resort (yes, you read that correctly!), so is appropriately ‘easy on the eye’. Opening on 24th June and described as combining a blend of technology and luxury urban appeal, visually Resorts World certainly stands out from the crowd. Some of the impressive images taken by Gregg on the day are below ‘hot off the press’ style. Enjoy!
Charles Fox was a prominent, and fiercely radical, Whig politician of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He was, in fact, the first British Foreign Secretary but, while he was a famous champion of civil liberty, he was an equally infamous drunkard, gambling addict and libertine. Indeed, Fox was said to have debts ‘like Caesar’s’ but, thanks in large part to his irresitable charisma, his political ambitions were hindered more by his hostility towards King George III than his financial situation.
By 1772, while still in his early twenties, Fox had already accrued £20,000 in gambling debts, which he asked his father, Henry Fox, First Baron Holland, to pay off. Baron Holland died in July, 1774, but the previous November had agreed, once again, to pay off debts ‘not exceeding the sum of one hundred thousand pounds’ on behalf of his son. Simultanenously, Frederick Howard, Fifth Earl of Carlisle, stood Charles Fox security for an additional sum, somewhere between £14,000 and £16,000, including interest payments of up to £2,000 a year.
By 1775, Carlisle was no longer able to service the debt, which was the equivalent of approximately one-sixth of his personal annual income at the time, and was forced to mortgage his home in St. James’s Place, London, and retire to Yorkshire. That November, James Harris, First Earl of Malmesbury, wrote that Charles Fox, who was a personal friend, ‘was not worth a farthing’ and, a year later, ‘had spent £175,000’. Fox continued his lifestyle, unrestrained and unrepetant; he was declared bankrupt between 1781 and 1784. It was not until late in his life, after his friends and family freed him from debt and provided him with a comfortable income, that he finally abandoned gambling.
An update from Gregg Fisher and his display. His Guinness world record holding collection will feature as part of the Casino Chip & Gaming Tokens Collectors Club (ccgtcc) annual convention. Held at South Point Hotel/Casino, Las Vegas from 17th to 19th June if you’re in the area do check it out. As you can see Gregg has been kind enough to give a meaning nod to HotChip.co.uk as part of his display. We’re honoured!
The one and only Gregg Fisher (world record holder for the largest collection of $1 casino chips) has been taking the opportunity to build on his record breaking collection. This time by visiting the Golden Gate Casino in downtown Las Vegas, as the venue has a new $1 chip.
Keep an eye out for another update from Gregg in a week or so, as he’ll be putting his Guinness world record holding collection of display at the Casino Chip & Gaming Tokens Collectors Club (ccgtcc) annual convention at South Point Hotel/Casino, Las Vegas from 17th – 19th June.
