After surge in kids left alone in casino parking lots, Pennsylvania launches crackdown on errant parents

The number of incidents involving parents who left children unattended to gamble in Pennsylvania casinos has soared about 60% this year over 2021, and disturbed state regulators on Wednesday launched a campaign to try to curb the bad behavior.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board on Wednesday announced a “Don’t Gamble With Kids” campaign aimed at warning parents and guardians that they could face jail time or permanent exclusion from the casino if they are caught leaving unattended minors in parked cars, food courts or hotel rooms while the adults gamble.

The campaign also seeks to enlist the help of other casino patrons to notify authorities if they see that a gambler has left a minor unattended. The regulators said that adults who choose to leave children unattended to wager in a casino may be exhibiting signs of a compulsive gambling problem.

» READ MORE: Valley Forge Casino steps up enforcement against gamblers who leave kids in cars

“We have seen these circumstances way too often,” Kevin O’Toole, Gaming Control Board executive director, told the board at its meeting in Harrisburg on Wednesday. “And this campaign is another plea to these parents and guardians to take their trips to the casino of their choice at times when their children are being taken care of by other responsible individuals.”

The campaign will include television and radio public service announcements, social media posts and videos, printed materials, and a website, www.DontGamblewithKids.org.

Since the start of 2022, the gaming board’s Bureau of Casino Compliance has recorded 269 incidents involving 441 minors who were left unattended while one or more of the adults responsible for them chose to gamble in a casino — six incidents every week. Sixty-eight of the minors were 6 years old or younger. In 2021, the state counted 171 incidents involving 279 unattended minors.

In what has become routine at the agency’s regular meetings, the board on Wednesday issued permanent bans on seven individuals for leaving children unattended while the adults gambled.

O’Toole said that no unattended children have been harmed, but that they are sometimes traumatized by encounters in parking garages with security officials checking on their welfare.

“It’s quite obvious, I think, to all of us, that any child of a young age who’s sitting in a car and has a police officer knock on the window or security guard knock on the window and their parents aren’t there that that’s — that’s tough,” he said.

One reason the number of incidents is up this year is because casinos have ramped up surveillance and enforcement efforts, state officials said.

Coincidentally, the issue of unattended parents featured prominently during a presentation Wednesday by officials from Valley Forge Casino Resort related to the renewal of the property’s five-year gaming license, which the board approved by a unanimous vote.

Ron Bailey, the general manager at Valley Forge, said the casino had recorded three dozen incidents with unattended children this year after the casino voluntarily agreed last year to a formal memorandum of understanding with regulators to step up efforts to thwart the behavior. In a notorious 2021 incident, Valley Forge security officers broke the glass of a vehicle to rescue a child left behind by an adult.

The casino’s owner, Boyd Gaming, committed $775,000 to upgrade staff training, signs and security systems, including installing infrared cameras in parking areas.

Bailey said there is now signage “everywhere” in the casino to remind adults that it is a crime to leave a minor unattended. “It is in the rooms, it is on the televisions, it is in the parking lots,” he said. “It is at every entrance. You’d be very hard pressed to find a location on the property where we’re not communicating to the public that we’re serious about unattended minors.”

The heightened vigilance by security officials is partly responsible for the increase in incidents this year, he said. In 30 of 36 incidents involving unattended minors at Valley Forge this year, security personnel intervened in less than four minutes, Bailey said. Often, the parents has been warned about the casino’s policy as they entered a parking area with a child aboard, and nevertheless left the minor alone in the vehicle.

“Once we’ve told you, we’re watching you,” Bailey said. “And so we’re able to address those situations very quickly and take care of it.”