GAMBLING LAW NEEDS UPDATING

A 1939 law that permits losers in illegal gambling to go to court in an effort to recover the losses should also be addressed by the Missouri General Assembly. There is confusion now that Missouri has legalized some gambling.

Last week, St. Louis Circuit Judge James R. Dowd ruled that the statute, intended to punish and deter participants in illegal gambling, has no practical effect over riverboat casinos, which Missouri voters legalized in 1992. The judge ruled in a class-action lawsuit filed against two St. Louis area casinos on behalf of gamblers who lost money.

Missouri lawmakers should have looked at the 1939 law after Missourians approved riverboat gambling in 1992. With it still on the books, it gives lawyers ammunition to go after gambling casinos that are operating in Missouri with the state's blessings. It is ludicrous not to afford the gambling industry protection against such frivolous suits brought by those who know the risks they take by gambling.