"I want you to show me the way."

-Peter Frampton

My late father was a bookie and a professional gambler.

CNHI recently did a great series on the effects of gambling and gambling addictions upon society. It is lot that my dad already knew.

If dad had gone into a different line of work, banking would have been a natural choice. Dad was a master of deciding how much credit bettors could have to ensure bettors did not get in over their heads.

Big casinos have more expertise in credit history than my dad but choose not to use it. 

People asked me how my dad would collect from unwilling bettors.  He could not sue them.   He could only hope that they would honor their obligations and they did.

When you see celebrities like Pete Rose or former professional quarterback (and ultimate sleazebag) Art Schlichter, get into trouble, you can usually trace the root of their downfall back to not paying their bookmakers. Rose and Schlichter did not pay their debts but  the bookmakers let  get in over their heads.

Out of control bettors should take responsibility for their actions but some blame has to be placed on bookmakers who let them bet more than they could pay back.

It all comes back to knowing your customer.

Segments of the world of stocks and bonds  remind me of gambling.  You can lose more in options trading than you can in a casino.

The Securities & Exchange Commission and stock market regulators developed a “know your customer” rule that brokerage firms must follow.  If a stock broker steers someone needing a safe investment into risky option trades, the securities firm can get zapped.  

Casinos need to operate under the same rules with the same liability.

I keep wondering why states do not make a “know your customer” rule part of the criteria for allowing a casino to operate.  If “know your customer” is good enough for the wealthy options traders, it should be good enough for the blue collar casino crowd.

Take the case of Jimmy Vance, a Kentuckian who is suing Caesars Indiana for extending him $75,000 credit when Vance claimed to be drunk and visibly impaired.

An attorney for Caesars Indiana said, “Some drunken gamblers win and some sober gamblers lose big.”

What would happen if we extended  the Caesars Indiana logic to all of society? Some people might  drive a car better drunk than sober.

 If Caesars Indiana were in charge of lawmaking, they would change the driving laws to allow drunks and dope heads to flood the roads.

Caesars Indiana would say  that some  drunk drivers would get home alive while some sober ones would not.  

It would not be hard for casinos to implement a “know your customer rule.” They are great marketers and know Americans better than the NSA does.

Casinos know who the high rollers are and who to give complementary rooms and drinks.  They know who causes trouble at their casino  and the casino down the street.  If they know all of that, then they ought to know when to cut a bettor off.  Sadly, casino owners know who to cut off, but they just don’t want to do it.

I doubt casinos will ever go away.   Governments have become addicted to the easy money revenues. If there is ever a backlash, it will be when society realizes the cost  caused by out of control bettors.   

Getting people to play responsibly is actually a good long term move for companies like Caesars.

Dad urged one of his clients to attend Gamblers Anonymous (GA).  The idea that his bookmakers  made the suggestion spurred the man to go and clean up his life.  

I wonder how many casinos are referring gamblers to GA. I will bet that if a casino sends a gambler to GA,  the gambler is completely tapped out first.

As the CNHI series noted, society is suffering because of out of control gamblers.  More bankruptcies, more broken marriages, more wrecked lives.

Bookies, like my father, understood that there were times when they had to show their customers the way. Casinos need to learn that same lesson.

Don McNay is President of McNay Settlement Group, where we try to show our customers the way.  His award winning column is syndicated on the CNHI News Service. You can write to him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or read other things he has written at www.donmcnay.com.