Cases of Gambling and Child Neglect Not Uncommon

Patch readers reacted this week after learning of a Baltimore woman accused of leaving her 4-year-old child in a car while she was inside the Maryland Live! casino for more than eight hours. 

While the details were troubling, such reports are not uncommon, with authorities alleging in each case that young children were left alone for hours as parents or guardians gambled. 

In the recent case involving Maryland Live!, Alicia Brown, 24, was charged with second-degree child abuse and neglect after the child was found in the car at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday evening. She is free on bail. 

Brown was not an employee of the casino. 

Here's a sampling of other recent cases involving child neglect and casinos.  

• In July, two sisters from South Florida were accused of leaving four children in a running car as they went to play the slots at the Mardi Gras Casino in Hallandale Beach. 
• In November, a mother was accused of leaving her 9-year-old daughter in a casino gift shop in Queens, NY, while she gambled.
• A New York woman faced charges after police said she left her 5-year-old son unattended in a hotel room at the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut.
• An Allentown, PA, woman was sentenced to two months in jail after she allegedly left five children in a car while gambling at the Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem, PA.
• The Parx Casino in Bensalem, PA, faced scrutiny after at least 10 possible cases of child abandonment at the casino between 2010 and 2011, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The cases led to speculation as to whether the casino could be held liable. 
• Reports from New Zealand suggest the problem is not just an American one. Officials in Auckland said there were 42 cases of people under 14 left at one particular casino in 2011, and 49 in 2012.