Adult playground

This is going to sound a little strange with the morally questionable gambling industry in general, but why do people insist on bringing children to a casino? The wife and I were at Caesars AC today and there was a woman at a 3 card poker table arguing with the dealer, pit and security all because she wanted to let her 4 year old sit on her lap while she was playing. It seems like everytime I go to a casino I see more and more children.

I can understand bringing them to AC since there is the beach, but it's the middle of the winter! Why are they there?

Yes it's disgusting, and it's even worse at Foxwoods on a summer night. You'll see groups of children and teens hanging out in corridors together while their parents deposit their welfare checks in slot machines. Kids have been found locked outside in cars and sex offenders have been found skulking around the property.

As if the casino cares. They probably figure if the parents lose a kid, that'll mean they have more money to gamble.

Plan B isn't much better...

A guy from St. Paul left his four kids, the oldest of whom was 6, at home alone while he went to Mystic Lake Casino to try to pass counterfeit currency.

#&% Star Tribune links usually let you look once, but if you try again they want you to register.
http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/13027171.html

Remember the guy at Mystic who left his kid in the car last January I believe, while he gambled. I think it was like 5 degrees out. brrrrrrr.

thats a good story, she wanted him to sit at the table while she hit the 3 card. Maybe she just wants a free teacher so he can start an alley game with his buddies in a couple years. roll them bones

I've always credited my grandmother with my gambling gene...and her lessons :grin:

At one Indian store I saw a woman come in with a young girl who looked like she had some mental retardation, sit her down at the slot next to her and give her money to play the machine. A security guard comes over and asks her what she is doing, and the mother said "Oh it's OK she's playing with my money." Guard just glared at her and told her to get out and take the kid with her. Good for him.

True; but Foxwoods is evil...They even have a kids' game room and arcades. Worse, they entice kids "to play more" and the chance "to win more prizes". They have those games that will spit out tickets based on luck, skill or whatever for the game to redeem for kiddie prizes.

The mentality may be: I want to play my ___(casino game). I dont want to waste any time or money getting a babysitter or driving the kids to so and so's house. I want to use all the money I can get my hands on for my casino game.

There is a small but significant percentage of people that are addicted. Gambling addictions can ruin relationships, families, lives. Just like any other addiction (especially the expensive ones, the cheap ones like tobacco just grind your life expectancy down like it's deaths house edge). Gambling can be fun recreationally just like a few drinks or line of coke, but for an addict it consumes them. Most addicts can't get off the addiction until they hit rock bottom from the financial burden and self-destruction, these are the casinos favourite customers. Im sure they'd gladly offer babysitting services to patrons that will gamble all day...but they know an addict will get there regardless of whether or not they have children and a recreational player won't bring a child to an out of the way casino so why pay the expense? It's cheaper for them to leave the kids outside, blame society for the addicts problems, and pay a cleaning service to pick up the brains after someone eats a pistol in their comped hotel room. The more time I spend in these joints and see the addicts the more I realize why this used to be (and still is in many places) very illegal. IMHO if someone can't stop themselves from making a bet, they are sick and shouldn't be legally allowed to place the bet.
In the casinos defense..some do police the parking lots heavily and will have patrons banned for abandoning children outside, now whether or not that ban is enforced or is just a PR stunt is another matter.

In 1994 I visited one of the Vicksburg, MS casinos (don't remember which one) for about an hour to throw some money away. There was a child care center there, my then 8-year old son rather enjoyed it. I don't think this is such an "evil" thing; if somebody has a gambling problem, giving their tots access to a kiddie room isn't the difference between ruin and recovery.

The boy now plays blackjack himself, and not badly, either.

I don't think it's evil really, especially around here where the casinos are legitimate major entertainment venues too (heck, Mohegan Sun has its very own major league sports franchise in house) and a lot of people really do go to them for reasons other than gambling. So it's fair play to have a place the kids will enjoy while you're at a concert or a nightclub. But locking them in the car or leaving them in the corridors is just effed up.

If the child is under 6, you should be sure to close the windows so they can't get out. And also leave them a couple of bottles of water. And if it's really hot outside, try to park in the shade before leaving them in the car. :devil: