Why wasn’t she allowed to play?

[retainertrainer]

Went to a wedding reception last night. They had a little casino section. DD 12 was with us but they said she couldn’t play as she was under 18. No big deal at all, she had fun watching but I wondered what the law is? We were betting paper money with a photo of the bride and groom on it!xx

Assuming there were no prizes to be won in any way then it wouldn’t fall into the legal definition of gambling. Even if there were prizes, kids are allowed to participate in some minor gambling - those PTAs running school fair tombolas aren’t risking prison. But the facility or the company running the casino or the couple getting married could have instituted a no children policy for a whole host of reasons, including not wanting to be associated with child gambling or an over abundance of caution. Possibly, the casino or venue’s licensing requires them not to allow children to participate even when it isn’t actually gambling - I don’t know if that sort of stipulation would be permissible.

I had a similar experience with McDonalds. It was one of the times their Monopoly game was running; I’d taken DN for tea after swimming, she was about 13/14. I won a drink, she won a doughnut. Refused to let her claim the prize, then refused to let me claim it as “Its only one prize per person per visit” (fair enough) and “we know it’s for the girl you’re with”. Well, yes. I must admit the gambling rules never entered my head and I didn’t say anything to the counter staff as I know it’s not their fault but I do question the wisdom of selling the monopoly-branded stuff to the very demographic who form the majority of their customers....but who can’t claim the prizes!

I was a croupier and used to do party casino nights to earn extra money.
As long as no cash changes hands there is no age restrictions. We used to do quite a lot of 16th birthday parties.

Children gamble whenever they play on the arcades at the seaside so its not about children being unable to gamble its about the amount they can gamble with and win.

I think the company decided that rule so that they were not catering to children all night.

Cosmic-how do you become a croupier? Do they train you up or do you just learn it yourself? I’ve never been to a casino or played before and the croupier amazed me, she was so quick at the maths and the dealing etc. It’s quite a skill!

The company might not want loads of photos circulating on Fb of children ‘gambling’ round their table. If the fake money can’t be identified, what you are is kids at their table.

4 to 6 weeks training taught by a pit boss (line manager) outside of normal opening times.
There are no calculators so you need to learn your 2, 5, 8, 17 and 36 times table in order to pay out bets on roulette.
You also have to learn the position of every number on the table when they are covered in chips so that you can dolly (mark) the winning number.
You have to learn the hand positions to push out winning bets as you can only use one hand and none of the stacks must fall over. I have big hands so could push out 10 stacks of chips that are stacked in 20s.

You also need to be quick. More speed means more games less time for punters to think so more wins for the house.
All the card games are quite easy to learn but roulette was the hardest and most exciting.
I loved that job.

We had casino tables (not real money) at the last year 11 prom. All above board and organised through a proper company. So not illegal. But probably more to do with the specific company’s regulations / licence.

I'm a wedding photographer and I've seen children playing on casino tables at weddings. Not sure who's in the right though, the company's that let them or the company's that don't!

Probably for the same reason you no longer get sweet cigarettes. They don’t want to encourage bad habits in children. Perfectly sensible rule imo.