Missouri Seeks to Crack Down on Underage Gambling
A new measure in Missouri that seeks to make it more difficult for minors in the state to gain entry into casinos has the backing of the state’s gambling industry, according to a new report in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Onus is mostly on casinos
Under current Missouri law, casinos are fined thousands of dollars if they are found to be permitting minors to gamble at their properties. As in most other states, the legal gambling age in the Show Me State is 21 years of age.
Currently, those under the legal age who are caught illegally gambling are charged with a misdemeanor and could be subjected to a $500 fine. The new bill would lower the legal penalty to a mere infraction, however the $500 fine would become mandatory.
Missouri has permitted casino gambling since 1994.
Repeat offenders to face stiffer penalties
The laws that are currently in place governing penalties for underage gamblers carve out increased punishment if the minor is found to be gambling again. For additional offenses, perpetrators can face additional misdemeanor charges that can carry a penalty of up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
The new measure, which has the support of Missouri State Representative Noel Shull (R-Kansas City), who used to serve as chairman of the Missouri Gaming Commission, also calls for stiffer sanctions against those minors who continue to illegally gamble in casinos.
If passed, the new bill would establish essentially a new set of parameters guiding the punishment of minor offenders, with the aforementioned first penalty counting only as an infraction carrying a mandatory $500 penalty, and with subsequent offenses qualifying as misdemeanor charges with additional $500 fines levied.
Idea is to deter underage gamblers from attempting to enter properties
The state’s governor, Jay Nixon, a Democrat who took office in 2009, has not yet said whether his intention is to sign the bill.
Representative Shull, however, noted that the new law is designed to deter would-be underage gamblers from even coming near a casino.
“If you can be fined $500 and you’re under age 21, in a lot of cases, that might be an incentive to think twice,” Shull said.
Shull, whose tenure at the gaming commission lasted from 2005 through 2011, said that many underage gamblers – some of whom are using fake identification in their efforts to gain entry to the casinos – are simply denied entrance by casino staff.
Shull is hoping to see those minors charged and fined $500, as means of not only discouraging future attempts but also to send the strong message that underage gambling is not tolerated in the state of Missouri.
Similar concerns surround online gambling issue
The issue up for discussion in Missouri is one that is gaining a lot of attention in the United States as the online gambling market just begins to ramp up. With three states – Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware – already having passed laws that will permit residents to place wagers over the Internet, there has been a lot of talk about how best to prevent those under the age of 21 from gaining access to real-money gambling websites.
Some are calling for tighter identification measures, with such steps as retina scanning, fingerprint verification, and perhaps even telephone verification all being bandied about as possible means of deterring too-young gamblers from participating in the market.
