Mississippi commission faces shortage of agents

Timothy R. Brown

Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2003 | 9:43 a.m.

JACKSON, Miss. -- The Mississippi Gaming Commission is suffering through a shortage of agents charged with halting illegal gambling and regulating the state's $3 billion casino industry, officials say.

Leigh Ann Wilkins, a spokeswoman for the Gaming Commission, said the agency has one agent per 65,000 square feet of casino gaming space and only three agents assigned to investigate illegal gambling activity.

Budget concerns have forced cuts in recent years and the state's current money crunch will not allow any new hirings, she said.

Wilkins said Mississippi is falling behind other states in staffing levels for gaming commission agents.

"There are some jurisdictions, such as New Jersey, that have an enforcement agent on each casino property 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Wilkins said last week. "We realize that is impossible to do due to budget constraints, but the agency does need more agents to increase our coverage of the casinos."

The state Gaming Commission believes Mississippi should have one agent per 25,000 square feet of casino gaming space. And since the state has the shortage, agents once assigned to investigate illegal gambling activity have been reassigned.

"We know that illegal gaming is a very serious problem in Mississippi and we do not want to turn our back on it," said Wilkins, who noted that the agency once had up to nine agents assigned to the task.

"We do know that it is probably a little more widespread and that it could use additional manpower, but we just can't at this time commit any more agents to that."

Last year the Mississippi Gaming Commission conducted several raids on illegal gambling operations in the state.

The raids resulted in the seizure of 52 illegal gambling devices from six Indianola businesses, 111 illegal gaming devices from 19 businesses in Meridian and Lauderdale County, and several more illegal gaming machines at businesses in Hancock County.

Wilkins said the agency has had some success working with local law enforcement to arrest those operating illegal gaming establishments.

The manpower it takes to regulate Mississippi's 29 casinos, however, often hampers illegal gaming investigations, Wilkins said.

"Our main focus has to be on legalized gambling in the state," Wilkins said. "The legal casinos are a $3 billion industry in Mississippi and their regulation requires a tremendous amount of manpower and resources."

Andy Boorland, executive director for the Mississippi Gaming Association, said illegal gambling is something that needs to be dealt with, however, the activity doesn't really hurt the casino industry.

"Obviously it is a concern of ours," Boorland said. "But does it impact the casino industry in terms of revenue? No. Clearly it is an image issue and it is something that needs to be cleaned up."

Wilkins said it will be tough for three agents -- no matter how hard they try -- to clean up the problem.

"Unlike casinos that are in certain areas of the state, illegal gambling is rampant throughout the entire state," Wilkins said. "That's a lot of area to cover and so three doesn't go very far when it comes to that, but we do our very best."