STATE'S GAMBLING LOSS LIMIT SHOULD STAY

Missouri's gambling industry once again this year will try to get the General Assembly to eliminate the $500 loss limit rule on the state's riverboat casino gamblers.

Every year the industry tries unsuccessfully to get lawmakers to do away with the rule, claiming the loss limit keeps many non-Missouri gamblers from coming to Missouri and sends many Missouri gamblers to other states.

Their main argument is that high rollers -- those who think nothing of dropping thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars in their quests for big winnings -- won't do so in Missouri because of the loss limit.

The state law caps an individual's losses at a riverboat casino at $500 for each two-hour period of gambling.

The rule has been in effect ever since Missouri voters made riverboat gambling legal in Missouri.

The gambling industry stressed that it wanted a loss-limit rule when it came to Missouri to sell voters on legalizing gambling. Its purpose then and still is to protect compulsive gamblers, those who don't know when to quit when they start losing money.

The Missouri Riverboat Gaming Association's latest decision to fight to erase the loss limit came during a recent meeting in Kansas City, Mo.

The association director, Mike Ryan, said eliminating the limit would make Missouri more competitive with neighboring gambling states and boost annual gross revenues even more by attracting high rollers.

Nevertheless, the limit didn't stop Missouri gambling boats from taking in $998 million in 2000, and that is $68 million more than it took in 1999.

The gambling industry's insistence to lift the rule should come as no surprise to Missourians who have followed the industry's behavior since gambling was made legal in Missouri. The industry has tried repeatedly to lessen the rules under which it operates, and for that reason it is important that its efforts continue to be kept under the most rigid scrutiny of the Missouri Gaming Commission, the state Division of Gaming and the legislature.

The law that imposes a loss limit on casino gamblers in Missouri should stay.