KEEPING TABS ON GAMBLING IS FULL-TIME JOB

Just a little more than a week ago, Missouri voters -- primarily in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas -- voted to change the state's Constitution to allow gambling boats near the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. These so-called boats-in-moats are basically land-based casinos, although some of them are mounted on barges.

Millions of dollars were spent by the gambling industry to persuade voters to make this change after the Missouri Gaming Commission allowed the off-river casinos to be constructed and then the Missouri Supreme Court said these casinos didn't comply with constitutional provisions.

In the 8th Congressional District, however, voters were not persuaded by the gambling industry's campaign. Voters in areas with heavy concentrations of casinos more than made up for what amounts to rural disgust over what has happened to gambling since the first riverboats took gamblers on short cruises while the roulette wheels were spinning.

As could be expected with an industry like gambling, the state now must contend with the rather sizable task of making sure the casinos operate legally and within the rules set by the Missouri Legislature, the gaming commission or the company that owns the casinos. Already there have been reports of violations, fines and alleged infractions that remain to be resolved.

For example, the St. Jo Frontier Casino in St. Joseph has just been cited by the gaming commission for more than a dozen infractions. Fines totalling $75,000 have been proposed. The casino is deciding whether to appeal the allegations.

Among the charges: A teen-ager used a false ID to get into the casino to gamble and drink beer, and the casino cashed checks in excess of its own house limit of 4500, and the casino cashed company checks -- totalling $27,700 from one company -- in violation of the casino's own rule against cashing checks from businesses.

While these allegations haven't yet resulted in the payment of any fines, the gaming commission has collected as much as $184,000 -- its largest fine ever -- from the President Casino in St. Louis for using unlicensed workers.

Voters who tried unsuccessfully to keep casino gambling in check last week will no doubt grow tired of hearing about violations, appeals, lawsuits and fines that result for gambling operations in the state. Those who accepted the gambling industry's campaign slogans apparently don't see any problems.