At present the loss limit of US$500 every two hours requires all gamblers boarding Missouri riverboat casinos to be issued with player identification cards. Missouri is the only state that insists that all players are identified and this is unlikely to change even if moves succeed to repeal the loss limit law. Missouri casinos have long been pressing for the loss limit to be removed, claiming it puts them at a disadvantage in competing with neighbouring states.

Yesterday the Missouri Gambling Commission director Gene McNary said that biometric identification could be an alternative and that installing the system at every casino had already been costed at US$800,000. Commenting, “Our bottom line is we want to know who’s on that boat…for a lot of different reasons,” adding “We’re going to know who you are and that you’re on that boat.”

The casino industry is expected to resist attempts to impose fingerprinting or eye scans at points of entry into Missouri casinos. They see the state insistence on identifying every player as losing them many customers. Under the new system being considered tourists and first-time visitors would still have to stand in line and present identification but McNary envisages local players would have their biometric details registered and be swiftly processed.

Using such means should allow the authorities to stop underage gamblers from entering casinos and to exclude undesirable characters. It also means those who have voluntarily excluded themselves from Missouri casinos, around 11,000 people, should not be able to gain access. No security system is foolproof but, whether by identification cards or by biometric scanning, Missouri plans to keep track of its casino players. (E-02.28.07)

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