Gaming industry to study ways to protect children

Thursday, Feb. 26, 1998 | 10:11 a.m.

The abduction, sexual assault and murder of a 7-year-old girl at a Nevada casino last year focused public attention on a problem gaming industry leaders have been concerned about for a long time.

"The concern is that with the increased number of families with children coming to gaming facilities, there is a growing problem of unattended children. Some parents will go to tables or slot machines and leave a child unattended, particularly late at night," said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which is based in Arlington, Va.

The tragic death of Sherrice Iverson, raped and murdered May 25, 1997, in a Primm hotel-casino restroom, was the catalyst for a seminar the NCMEC will conduct for the American Gaming Association and state casinos Friday at the MGM Grand.

Jeremy Joseph Strohmeyer, 19, of Long Beach, Calif., is accused of the crime and is awaiting trial.

"Gaming is the first entertainment industry to take this kind of approach to make sure children stay safe," Allen said.

Allen said the Nevada Resort Association and the American Gaming Association, co-sponsors of the seminar, approached NCMEC about developing a program to educate gaming industry personnel about safety issues for children and minors.

NCMEC is a nonprofit organization established to help in the prevention of victimization of children.

"We at the Center have served as a technical resource to a number of industries," Allen said. "We assist in lots of ways with advice and training to try to keep children safe."

Allen said he was impressed by the level of concern gaming leaders have for child safety.

"This industry probably has the top security systems and resources of almost any industry," Allen noted. "Yet these kinds of problems may not be the traditional kinds of things security or operations people think about."

The NCMEC is helping put together guidelines to alert parents to their responsibilities in gaming facilities.

"We have been looking at policies, programs and procedures to make parents accountable for supervising and overseeing their children," Allen said.

Some of the objectives of the seminar, according to Allen, are to better prepare casino personnel for recognizing situations that are causes for concern and training them on how to deal with those situations and to "make sure systems are in place to make for the greatest possible interaction between the hotel-casinos and law enforcement."