Gamblers beware: One (mis)step into the Rivers Casino could cost you $500.
Des Plaines recently set the trespassing fine at the state’s newest gambling establishment at $500. Previously the city was fining offenders the minimum amount allowed under its general trespassing ordinance — $250. The maximum amount allowed is $750.
Trespassing is the number one reason police are called to the site, officials said.
“We want to make sure were covering our costs for sending our officers out there,” said Acting City Manager Jason Slowinski. “The fine should be an appropriate level.”
Between opening day and Dec. 31, police arrested and cited 149 people for trespassing – that’s almost 25 people per month. Officers have spent 213 hours and 25 minutes at the casino for trespassing complaints during that time frame, according to figures provided by Des Plaines.
Trespassing fines in other casino towns vary. A trespassing ticket can range from $50 to $750 in Elgin while Aurora dishes out citations for anywhere from $50 to $500. Joliet writes trespassing tickets for $150.
Joliet Police Chief Mike Trafton said dealing with trespassers at the casinos is a small fraction of the department’s responsibility.
“Have we got calls? Yes,” Trafton said. “Is it common? Not at all.”
Though Joliet police do not keep tabs on how many trespassers are caught at casinos, a spokeswoman for Hollywood Casino Joliet said an average of 12 people are removed monthly. Harrah’s Joliet Casino sees about 10.
Des Plaines Acting Police Chief Mike Kozak said the majority of the intruders belong to the state’s self-exclusion program, which began in June 2002 and allows problem gamblers to ban themselves from the state’s casinos.
Since then, 8,780 people have signed up for the list and no one has been taken off, said Gene O’Shea, spokesman for the Illinois Gaming Board. To be removed from the program, a person must have two affidavits from two certified license gambling addiction counselors that state the individual no longer has a gambling problem, he added.
Meanwhile, Des Plaines aldermen have asked city staff to contact other casino towns to find out how much time their police and fire departments spent at gambling venues last year.
Council members said they were under the impression Rivers would not be a burden on the police department, but officers have spent 846 hours and 32 minutes at the casino for nearly 600 incidents between July 18 and Dec. 31.
“To me that hardly sounds like not much of an impact,” said Ald. Mark Walsten at a meeting this week. “For every hour or five minutes that there’s three police officers at this casino…that means there’s three officers not patrolling the streets of my neighborhood and the rest of the neighborhoods in this city.”
Slowinski, who recently met with the casino, pointed out the attendance figures at Rivers are higher than other casinos, which could be a reason for the high volume of calls. The number is expected to go down because the casino is making some operational adjustments, like having private paramedics onsite so they don’t have to tie up Des Plaines ambulances, he added.
“I think we’re going through some growing pains here,” said Ald. Dick Sayad. “Maybe a year from now I think we’ll look at this and we might see these numbers going down.”
Reporter Mary Owen contributed to this report.
