PA Gaming Board Campaign Targets Gamblers Who Abandon Kids

PA Gaming Control Board voted to ban eight adults from the state's casinos who left their kids to gamble. The agency announced the launch of a “Don’t Gamble With Kids” campaign. It also created a special website, DontGamblewithKids.org. The board has spent the past several years focusing on the problem with casinos. They have increased their efforts to prevent incidents where patrons leave children behind in cars for minutes or even hours while playing inside.

This year, 269 incidents involving 441 minors left unattended while their parents were gambling has been recorded. The agency took some of the state's funds dedicated to gambling issues and channeled them to the new campaign. PSAs aimed at parents and guardians are aimed to raise awareness among the wider public that patronizes casinos. They hope the public will alert the venues' security and surveillance staff.

PA Gaming Board is concerned about gambling-related abandonment of children. Valley Forge Casino Resort has budgeted $800,000 this year specifically on efforts aimed at cases of abandoned children and has installed infra-red cameras and posters warning patrons not to leave kids behind. The resort has 36 unattended minors on the property this season. In 30 of those cases, the children were reached by staff in under four minutes.

Parx Casino fined $10,000 for underage gambling. 18-year-old played craps for seven minutes without showing ID. He was stopped by staff and escorted out. Board fined Mount Airy Casino Resort $160,00 for similar cases. Parents of minors involved in those incidents were added to the involuntary exclusion list.

Rivers Casino Pittsburgh will remove 97 slot machines from its gaming floor. The reduction will provide more space and comfort for patrons. Rivers is the most recent casino to get permission to reduce its slot count since the return from mandatory COVID shutdowns in 2020.