"We don't want them in there," huffs Ameristar Casinos' Troy Stremming (left) with regard to pathological gamblers. Stremming's high dudgeon rings a mite hollow now that the Missouri ballot initiative he crafted and shepherded to victory last fall is providing a free pass for problem gamblers. Once boarding requirements were repealed, away went the mechanism for screening self-banned gamblers. Whoops.
It's not like they still can't be caught on-property, though. Woe betide the player who hits a sufficiently big jackpot for his slot machine to go into "IRS lockdown." His identity has to be verified — which means he can kiss those winnings goodbye and prepare to be handcuffed. To quote Geena Davis in Thelma & Louise, "The law is some tricky shit."
But Missouri's got nothing on Illinois, where casino employees double as "bounty hunters." If you're a self-banned player who's shooting dice at Alton Belle or Casino Queen, there's literally a price on your head.
