Underage Slots Player Causes Havoc

Think of ’underage gambling’ and what most likely comes to mind is a couple of teenagers using fake ID to get into a casino. 

However, the Pennsylvania Gaming Board is dealing with the issue of far younger children on the gambling floor.

The Philadelphia Park Casino is under fire due to a complaint made by other players over a five year old who was sitting on his grandfather’s lap and ‘taking turns’ playing a slot machine.  The complaint has been taken to the state’s gambling regulators and apparently is not the first time they have had to deal with such a thing.  Two other complaints were filed against Pennsylvania casinos in 2007 when a four year old was sitting with his father at a slot machine and a two year old crossed into the gaming floor with her mother right in front of two security officers who did nothing to stop them.  According to state law, patrons must be over eighteen to enter the casino floor and over twenty-one in order to play. 

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board claim that this is the first complaint they’ve had about young children being on the casino floors and playing slots within the state.  The complaint was considered at a hearing, but no decision has been made regarding it.  Some of the staff on the gaming board have suggested that the Philadelphia Park Casino pay $21,000 towards a gambling education program in the local schools that address the problems associated with gambling.  While the idea is a sound one, there have been others who oppose it, stating that it should be parents’ responsibility to ensure their children not to come into contact with casinos. 

Family advocate programs are finding the situation neither cute nor funny.  According to Michael Geer, the president of the Pennsylvania Family Institute in Harrisburg, “It's a very serious matter -- a scenario that can even put the child at risk for future gambling compulsion.”  He went on to state that the idea of children being allowed on the casino floor is ‘troubling and worthy of prosecution’.

There have been two other civil complaints – one at the Mohegan Sun and one at Philadelphia Park – about underage patrons being on the casino floors.  Both of these complaints were about teenagers, however, and not toddlers.  The board will continue reviewing the situation and decide what action should be taken against the casino.