Gaming officials discuss how to keep children safe while parents gamble

Tuesday, June 16, 1998 | 4:59 a.m.

The industry has been forced to grapple with the issue of unattended children following the assault and murder of a 7-year-old girl in a Nevada casino last year. She was left alone while her father gambled.

"Although parents have the ultimate responsibility for their children, it is also our responsibility as an industry to make sure our patrons are safe," said Frank J. Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association.

The AGA worked with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children last year to develop guidelines casinos should use in responding to unattended children.

The New Jersey Casino Control Commission recently fine-tuned those guidelines to prevent children from roaming through halls unattended. The procedures were adopted by the dozen casinos in Atlantic City.

"It's up to the casinos to do this," said commission Chairman Bradford Smith. "I think they all understand it is in their best interest. It addresses a very serious problem."

About 150 casino executives, security staff and personnel attended a four-hour seminar at the Atlantic City Convention Center to learn more about the guidelines and steps the industry has taken to address the problem.

Two casinos - Trump Taj Mahal and Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino - have opened fun centers where parents can leave their children while they gamble. The centers are open daily from noon to midnight during the summer season and cost $7 an hour.

"It definitely makes people feel that their child is safe," said William Beyers, who runs the centers along with his wife. The centers accept children ages 3 to 13, but restricts their sessions to a maximum of three three-hour sessions a day.

But not everyone agrees that children's centers are a good idea. Some worry the industry would be criticized for creating an atmosphere to attract children.

In Las Vegas, family is known as "the 'F' word," said Alan Feldman, vice president for public affairs for Mirage Resorts, Inc. Gaming resorts should never be confused with family attractions, he said.

"We're not here to encourage people to bring their children and leave them," Feldman said. "We want parents to be responsible for their kids."

There are no statistics on how many children have been left unattended at Atlantic City casinos, but officials said the guidelines are an attempt to prevent a tragedy similar to what happened in Nevada from occurring here.

During the seminar Tuesday, a segment was shown from a television broadcast depicting children left alone in Atlantic City casinos. One boy licked an ice cream cone and paced through the lobby as he waited for his mother for more than an hour. When she returned, she said she had only been gone 20 minutes.

Posters urging parents not to leave their kids unattended have now been placed around the casinos. There are also brochures, booklets and videos that can be shown in the guest rooms.

Under the guidelines in New Jersey, security personnel will search for the parent or guardian of any child under age 12 left unattended at any time. Children between 13 and 18 must be supervised after 10 p.m.

If the parent is not located within an hour, security is instructed to notify police who then have the authority to contact the state Division of Youth and Family Services.

A parent who refuses to take custody of a child or repeat offenders can be removed from the casino.

"You have to have the guts to eject," Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in Arlington, Va., told the group. "If you don't enforce it, it's going to be meaningless."

Added Smith, "know what to do and do it! You can't afford not to know what to do."

Last month, when security at Harrah's reunited a 10-year-old girl left unattended with her father, he wrote on a guest survey, "heaven forbid she be left alone ... your security was 'Johnny on the spot."'

"The father was offended that we would do this," said Harrah's spokesman Michael DiLeva. "Parents out there clearly don't understand what their obligations are."