STIFF FINE IS A START FOR LETTING GIRL GAMBLE

Station Casino St. Charles in the St. Louis area doesn't know how a 12-year-old girl was able to get into the riverboat's casino and play a slot machine. The Missouri Gaming Commission, in an effort to make sure the casino doesn't let it happen again, fined the riverboat's operators a record $250,000 for the slipup.

Gamblers must be at least 21 years old to enter a casino in Missouri. Casino operators are told to ask for proof of age for anyone who looks 30 or younger. As most any husband can tell you, it isn't always easy to accurately guess the age of someone you don't know, particularly when hundreds of people are streaming past to get to the gambling areas of a casino.

The casinos have trained staff members whose job it is to see that underage gamblers don't get on the boat. Hefty fines -- perhaps even more than a quarter of a million dollars -- are the least the gambling commission can do to see that it doesn't happen again.