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Non-Tech : Gambling, The Next Great Internet Industry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Herc who wrote (357)	5/12/2000 8:17:00 AM
From: Herc	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 827

From the New Orleans newspaper this AM. Internet gaming could prevent this, that is, unless daddy has the computer remember his casino/lotto password. <<Underage gamblers' luck may be running out Senator wants answers after revealing study By Ed Anderson Capital bureau/The Times-Picayune BATON ROUGE - A new report shows that underage gamblers have almost no trouble buying lottery tickets and playing video poker, and at least one legislator wants to know why. "I guess we will have to take a look at it again," said Sen. Tom Schedler, R-Slidell, chairman of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee. "We should be ticketing bar owners and bar managers on the spot" when police find people under age 21 playing the games. But policing those who sell lottery tickets and have video poker machines, Schedler said, will be tough because there are thousands of retailers across the state and relatively few officers to do the job. "We will have to go to the (Louisiana) Lottery Corp. and ask them to help us," Schedler said. Lottery Corp. President Randy Davis said his organization will redouble its efforts with retailers to prevent the sale of tickets to those younger than 21. The study, which cost the Department of Health and Hospitals $110,000, showed that people under age 21 could buy lottery tickets 64 percent of the time, and those under 21 could play video poker 59 percent of the time. On gambling riverboats, policed by private guards, State Police and off-duty police officers, underage gamblers had access 10 percent of the time. The state survey was based on "random, unannounced inspections of gaming outlets" by State Police and "cooperating individuals," researcher Ronald Harris said. All 13 riverboats were inspected at various times between May 12 and May 28, 1999; 501 of the state's 2,994 lottery outlets were inspected between May 6 and May 28, 1999; and 432 of the state's 3,632 video poker outlets were inspected between May 5 and May 22, 1999. "This gives us a baseline" for follow-up compliance tests, said Alton "Jake" Hadley, assistant secretary of the department's Office for Addictive Disorders. "We really have our work to do with video poker and the lottery. ... We need more (compliance) checks." Schedler said he will schedule a committee hearing for next week to talk about improving enforcement. "We have got to have stronger penalties" for violations and better enforcement, he said. The study did not check compliance with underage gambling laws at race tracks, bingo and other "charitable gaming" outlets, Harrah's New Orleans Casino, Indian gambling casinos and off-track betting parlors. "Uncontrolled access points at gaming outlets facilitate the possibility of underage gaming," the study said. "Underage individuals were less likely to purchase a lottery ticket, to play video poker or to enter into a riverboat casino when they were asked for proof of age." Department Secretary David Hood said the study underscores that "a simple request for proof of age keeps people under 21 from accessing gambling at that location." The Belle of Baton Rouge, now the Argosy Casino, did not comply with identification checks on seven of the 13 inspections, according to the report. Excluding that boat, the compliance rate of the riverboats was 5.8 percent. Davis said the lottery "will now thoroughly examine the study's data, especially since our own data records only 30 complaints regarding underage ticket sales since the lottery began in 1991 and zero complaints since 1995." Davis said "appropriate action," including loss of the retailer's permit to sell lottery tickets, will be forthcoming if the seller does not ask for proof of age when selling tickets. "Some of our retailers have been lax in ID-ing buyers," Davis said. "We have to start the process to make them understand, and if they do not cooperate, they will lose their license. We take this very seriously.">>