Smack into the face of addiction

Gambling With the Lives of Children
By Larry King

Inquirer Staff Writer

They prepared for more traffic, extra crime, and gambling addiction.

But officials in Bucks County say that while planning for the 2006 opening of Parx Casino in Bensalem, they never anticipated this.

"One thing that we never expected was for people to leave their kids inside their cars while they went inside to gamble," said Fred Harran, Bensalem's public safety director.

Yet police say that has happened seven times since mid-June outside the sprawling Parx complex, on Street Road. The latest report came Thursday, just hours after state lawmakers announced plans for a bill that would make it a felony to leave children younger than 13 unattended in a vehicle. "Of all the problems we thought about that were going to happen, this is one thing that was probably inconceivable," State Rep. Gene DiGirolamo (R., Bucks) said at a noon news conference Thursday in Bensalem.

Added State Sen. Robert M. Tomlinson (R., Bucks): "We were all shocked when we first heard of these incidents."

They shouldn't have been, some experts and gambling critics say.

"They didn't do their research," said Janette Fennell, founder and president of KidsAndCars.org, a national nonprofit child-safety organization. "There is plenty out there about the fact that kids are left alone in cars at casinos."

"It's amazing to me that legislators are surprised at this stuff," said Paul Boni, a Philadelphia lawyer who has represented anti-casino groups. "You are looking smack into the face of the addiction.

"They are surprised because they haven't thought about it and haven't looked into the issue."

During the 10 years ending in 2003, KidsAndCars.org collected accounts of more than 30 cases of parents' leaving children in locked cars outside casinos.

That was shown to be a lowball count when the Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal studied Indiana Gaming Commission records to reveal 37 incidents in which 72 children were left unattended at casinos in that state in 1999 and 2000.

News stories contain dozens of accounts of gamblers across the nation who left children in vehicles.

A few cases have proved fatal.


In 1997, a 10-day-old girl died in a car while her mother gambled for hours in a South Carolina casino.

The next year, a 3-year-old Louisiana boy died in hot van while his nanny played video poker for five hours.

In 2004, a 9-month-old Florida girl died in her car seat outside a track where her father was betting on horses.

Still, it appears that there is no mechanism for accurately tracking the problem. Fennell said she had approached several casinos in other states for statistical information and had been rebuffed each time.

Doug Harbach, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, said the board, by law, had no control over what took place outside a casino. He said he knew of no children left in cars at the state's other eight casinos.

Another board spokesman, Richard McGarvey, said he did not know whether casinos were required to report such incidents to the board.

The sheer number of reports from Parx, and the mounting publicity, prompted the board to question Parx officials Aug. 19 about how the casino is addressing the problem. In July, Parx generated $36.7 million in slots revenue, up 19 percent from July 2009 and the highest amount among the state's casinos.

Thomas Bonner, Parx vice president and general counsel, said last week that the casino planned to have 31 parking-lot surveillance cameras in place by midmonth - about double what it has had for its 7,000-space lot.

Security patrols are being increased during the casino's busiest times: Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons, Bonner said.

Customers are being asked to report any children seen in the parking lot, and warning signs have been posted at the casino, he said.

Six of the seven cases at Parx have been reported by customers, police said.

Some have suggested that security officials check any vehicles entering the lot for children inside.

"I'd be lying if I said that wasn't possible," Bonner said Thursday. But he said it would be difficult because Parx had five entrances and because the casino shared parking space with the Parx Racing horse track. Unlike the casino, the track allows children inside.

Bensalem officials said the township had hired 21 new police officers since Parx opened, but declined to say how many help patrol the Parx site.

Tomlinson and DiGirolamo said their legislation would enable judges to impose a sentence of up to seven years in prison. But they said it could also give a judge more options - such as a longer period of probation - to monitor and restrict problem gamblers.

"This is serious," Tomlinson said. "We don't expect this to happen again."

Don't hold your breath, lawyer Boni advised, for gambling addicts seldom consider the consequences.

"When you want to go out to a movie and you can't get a sitter to watch your kids, you go some other time," he said. "When you are an addicted gambler, you can't not go to the casino. So you find a way."