The Face of Gambling Addiction: Abandoning Children

Mom leaves 3 kids in car while hitting the slots
By DeAnn Smith, Digital Content Manager

PLATTE COUNTY, MO (KCTV) - A woman is in trouble after authorities said she left her three small children inside a car while she played slots at a Riverside casino.

Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd charged Katrina Denis Roades, 31, of Kansas City, KS with endangering a child and first-degree trespass. Both are misdemeanors.

Roades arrived at Argosy Casino at 4:55 p.m. March 3. A security officer saw a young girl walking the parking lot and discovered it was Roades' daughter.

"Upon taking the girl back to the car it was determined (that) there were two more children left in the car with temperatures in the 40s," according to a Missouri Highway Patrol report.


The children were 9 years old, 8 years old and 5 months old.

The mother returned to her car at 6:23 p.m.

"Roades spent that entire time playing slots in the casino," according to the trooper's report.


KCTV5 went to Roades' home Wednesday. She was leaving her home with her three children and declined comment.

Authorities said Roades had been determined to be a person who had previously been declared to have a gambling problem.