Yeah, the non-laminated ones will definitely show the ridges of a hotstamp. You might need to do a light scraping no matter what label stock you pick.
This unfortunately is the problem with labelling over hotstamps. An unlaminated label is usually thin enough to not cause stacking problems or spinners, but might not be thick enough to adequately hide the hotstamp ridges. In some cases the hotstamps on chips are nice and smooth to start with, and everything works out great, but good luck finding an entire rack (or two or three) of chips that fit that description.
Laminated labels in most cases will hide the ridges, but will be too thick for the inlay area. And of top of that, in both cases (laminated and unlaminated) the label itself will be adhering to less surface area, because it will mostly be sticking to the ridges, making them more prone to falling off prematurely, etc.
That's mostly for mint/unused or only very lightly used. If you have chips that are quite used and worn, the good news is that the hotstamps will have been worn smoother, but the bad news there's almost no inlay depth at all to work with anymore. Pretty much any label, even unlaminated, is going to give you handling and stacking problems by being too thick. At that point you're definitely better off milling out the inlay area, if only to get some depth back.
The "sweet spot" is somewhat-used chips where the ridges have been knocked down a bit but the inlay depth is still reasonable.
For chips that fit this description, (i.e. with relatively smooth hotstamps, or if you don't care as much about ridges showing through), I would recommend matte unlaminated labels for sure, or smooth laminated labels if you check the depth (get samples.)
If the ridges on your chips are a problem, you can scrape them down with the back edge of an Xacto blade or utility knife and then label them unlaminated, or better still, mill out the hotstamps and get a nice textured laminated label.
The short version of the dilemma is that the newer the chip, the deeper the inlay area will be, but the bigger effect the hotstamp ridges will have. The more worn the chip, the smoother the hotstamps are, but the less inlay depth will remain.
FWIW I'll be milling the pink $2 Derby chips I bought from the Chip Room sale, and adding laminated labels - pictures coming in early February when I get back from vacation.
BTW, there is almost never a problem with the hotstamp itself (i.e. foil) showing through the label directly. The vinyl is opaque enough to block that.
