Raise the ante on gambling age

RAISE the state gambling age from 18 to 21 for casinos, cardrooms, the state lottery and scratch tickets, horse racing and bingo games with cash prizes.

That is our starting point for the conversation the Legislature is likely to have between now and the 2007 session. Current efforts to raise the gambling age appear headed toward a task force to sort out the details. Companion legislation in both the House and Senate is getting bogged down in the artful muddle of questions about whether the church carnival ring toss constitutes gambling.

State government's pocketbook is affected too, with dire estimates on the cost of lost lottery sales, expensive overhead for redoing tickets and advertising, and the hit on state budgets, including money to fight problem gambling.

Kids gamble; studies suggest the sooner they get started, the riskier it can be for those disposed to having a problem. Young people gamble on cards, dice and sports. Long before the Internet, they were gambling on video games and, illegally, the daily lottery.

The advent of online games and televised poker has increased the presence of gambling in the youth culture. Mom and Dad may take comfort the kids are all sitting around the dining room table playing Texas Hold'em and not running around getting in trouble. It's all gambling and for more and more kids, it is a problem.

Let society send the message, however belatedly, to slow down and pace oneself. That is entirely the message with state after state that raised the drinking age from 18 to 21. Socially endorsed adult pleasures come at an age with a bit more maturity. Or perhaps more accurately, a greater sense of the consequences of excess and addiction.

Are the casinos, cardrooms, lottery games, horse tracks and bingo halls prepared to argue they will go under if the traffic fades from 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds?

Part of the issue here is the capacity to bet big and lose big. No one is going to blow a car payment or tuition money playing skeeball or fishing for a stuffed animal. Let's be honest about the definitions of games of chance and where the potential harms exists.

If House Bill 2872 and Senate Bill 5523 provoke a closer look at gambling and young people in the state, then the initial effort was worthwhile, even without immediate results.