# Why did the casino demand my ID (everyone's ID) when entering? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2023, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583 "2023-10-15T00:10:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583/1 "2023-10-15T00:10:36Z")
I do not gamble at all (I mean, I have a few times in my life but can count it on one hand). But, out of curiosity, I went into the new(ish) Bally’s casino in downtown Chicago. It is in the old Medinah Temple building and, my understanding is, this is a temporary spot while they build out a huge casino in the old Chicago Tribune printing building (but that will take years to complete). So, I enter and they ask for my ID. They ask for everyone’s ID. There is no chance this is about age. I am very obviously not under 21 (56 for the record). The people I was with were over 60 and carded as well. The clerk took my ID and put in a machine which, presumably, was scanning my ID. But it took 10-15 seconds. It was not fast at all. Clearly this was more than an age check. Is this common? What are they doing? Building an account to track me and send me emails? See if I am on some list? Something else? It was no big deal but it was a little weird and Big Brother-like. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583/2 "2023-10-15T00:23:38Z")
I can’t imagine why they would do that except to issue you a player’s card - but I expect you would have mentioned that. Other than that, I’d say it has to be something specific to Chicago or Illinois law because I’ve never encountered this in Vegas, Reno or Atlantic City. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583/3 "2023-10-15T00:39:38Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I can’t imagine why they would do that except to issue you a player’s card - but I expect you would have mentioned that. Yeah…it wasn’t for a player’s card (I did not get one…I did not gamble at all…just walked around checking the place out because it is interesting). ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583/4 "2023-10-15T00:45:43Z")
Did you or anyone else refuse to provide ID? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583/5 "2023-10-15T00:48:44Z")
Nope. We all handed over our IDs to be scanned. We are all law abiding citizens, never been to jail, no civil actions against us and so on. About as vanilla as it gets. My assumption was no ID, no entry. But maybe not…we did not try to test it. They definitely stop you on your way in though. This is not random. You have to pass this check-point which is the first thing you get to when you enter. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583/6 "2023-10-15T01:05:39Z")
There are players who are card counters and win against casinos. Naturally the casino doesn’t want these type of customers so ban them: > **[Card counting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card_counting)** > > Card counting is a blackjack strategy used to determine whether the player or the dealer has an advantage on the next hand. Card counters are advantage players who try to overcome the casino house edge by keeping a running count of high and low valued cards dealt. They generally bet more when they have an advantage and less when the dealer has an advantage. They also change playing decisions based on the composition of the deck. > Card counting is based on statistical evidence that high cards (a... Similarly there are other types of players who cheat so are banned by casinos. The best way to identify these undesirables is to check everyone’s ID. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583/7 "2023-10-15T01:46:08Z")
Makes sense but as @doreen mentioned these are not seen in the usual gambling places like Las Vegas. Seems more important there than in (comparatively) puny little Chicago casino. (I did see that the casino has a gazilllion cameras on the ceiling so they are definitely watching…unless those are fake cameras). ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583/8 "2023-10-15T02:02:57Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I’ve never encountered this in Vegas, Reno or Atlantic City. I’ve never encountered this in Detroit either, though I haven’t been to any of them since the pandemic. ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583/9 "2023-10-15T02:13:09Z")
I’ve only encountered this at casinos that don’t allow anyone under 21 to enter the property at all. In Las Vegas there is only one that I know of that scans all IDs at entry, that’s Circa casino in downtown, all others let everyone walk through to get to shows and restaurants. I’ve also seen this when we stopped into a casino near St. Louis. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583/10 "2023-10-15T02:24:34Z")
The only time I was in Las Vegas as an adult, in 2018, casinos were so ubiquitous, that it would be hard to move from place to place if you were unable to go through casinos. I’m sure they are designed that way to suck in as many people as possible who did not have set plans to gamble on a particular instance. It probably works well enough that it off-sets losses to card counters and cheaters who slip through the cracks. And for all I know, they do scan IDs somehow before you can actually place a bet, but they let you walk into and through the gambling areas without showing any ID. I saw Penn and Teller on their Vegas stage, and while I did not actually see children walking through the casino areas, I did not see a way to the lobby of the theater other than through the casino, and there were children in the audience. Maybe there is a special entrance if you say you have a kid when you buy tickets, or maybe children are escorted some other way when they show up, I don’t know, but I wasn’t carded, and was allowed to pass through the casino. The path from the main entrance to the theater lobby is a pretty tortuous-- clearly for maximum exposure to the tables. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583/11 "2023-10-15T02:34:24Z")
There is usually a way to walk through a casino with kids . Usually, it’s a fairly wide path either straight through the middle of the casino floor or around the edges of the casino. The floor will usually be different so that it’s clear where kids are allowed. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583/12 "2023-10-15T02:46:17Z")
Illinois state law requires an admission tax on everyone who enters a casino, although the casinos normally pay that charge instead of having the customer pay out of pocket. The law also requires 1. a valid government ID for anyone under age 30 2. proof of how many people passed through the turnstiles 3. “A description of how information obtained from the identification card will be compared to the IGB Statewide Voluntary Self-Exclusion List.” I suspect reason 3 means the scanners are connected somehow to the database of the Exclusion List, and reasons 1,2 and 3 combined make it a lot easier to just get everyone’s ID, even for those of us who haven’t seen age 30 in a long time. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583/13 "2023-10-15T03:25:24Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > The clerk took my ID and put in a machine which, presumably, was scanning my ID. But it took 10-15 seconds. It was not fast at all. Clearly this was more than an age check. I go once a year with friends to a gourmet dinner at a casino about an hour away. I don’t typically gamble. They always ask for my personal information for their records, but I don’t actually have to give it to them. The only time I did, it was because I knew I’d be spending $20 at the slots because that was included in the price of the meal. (I did not win, but my companion won $130 on his first play!) I wonder if you were required to supply your info, if you were not intending to gamble. It could be they’re just looking to get as much personal info as possible. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583/14 "2023-10-15T03:38:21Z")
We’ve observed a family with two pre-teen children trying to walk through the casino at Caesars Palace. They were stopped, and tried to explain that they had reservations at the restaurant. The bouncer (is that the right term?) said the only way they can walk through the casino was to be guests at the hotel, which they were not. I don’t know if they were able to find another entrance to the restaurant. We saw Penn & Teller at the Rio, and I’m pretty sure we didn’t have to walk through the casino. If I remember correctly, we were at the main entrance, with a food court nearby, and a long walk to the P&T theater. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583/15 "2023-10-15T03:56:14Z")
Here in California, it’s legal for Target to sell beer and wine to anyone 21 years or older. They have apparently decided that it’s just easier to card everyone buying alcohol than to deal with the liability of letting any underage schnooks sneak through. So I’ve been carded there myself, gray and balding hair and old-age wrinkles notwithstanding. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583/16 "2023-10-15T04:17:52Z")
> [@pirviii](#): > > I’ve only encountered this at casinos that don’t allow anyone under 21 to enter the property at all. In Las Vegas there is only one that I know of that scans all IDs at entry, that’s Circa casino in downtown, … I got carded at Circa also. The doorman’s scanner wouldn’t work on my Alberta driver’s licence, but I obviously look well over 21, and the document states that I am, so he let it go. I just told him I was taking getting carded as a compliment, and we both laughed. Closer to the OP’s experience, I went into a TGIFriday’s in downtown Chicago maybe twenty years ago. It had a “we card everybody” policy. I don’t know why, but it did. Well, okay, here’s my Canadian passport. The waitress wasn’t sure she could accept it as ID. I just said that if it was good enough for the US government to let me into the United States, it ought to be good enough for TGIFriday’s. And it was. It seems to me that “we card everybody” policies are more a CYA move than anything else. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583/17 "2023-10-15T04:56:01Z")
Some people who are in recovery from gambling addiction also request that they themselves be banned from casinos. There’s a reporter for my local newspaper who did that a while back. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583/18 "2023-10-15T04:56:21Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > So, I enter and they ask for my ID. They ask for everyone’s ID. There is no chance this is about age. Yep, it is about CYA (cover your ass0 and age. Now they have proof you are over 21. Also as he said here > [@PastTense](#): > > Similarly there are other types of players who cheat so are banned by casinos. The best way to identify these undesirables is to check everyone’s ID. > [@Civil\_Guy](#): > > Here in California, it’s legal for Target to sell beer and wine to anyone 21 years or older. They have apparently decided that it’s just easier to card everyone buying alcohol than to deal with the liability of letting any underage schnooks sneak through. Well, of course it is. But that is another reason I no longer shop there. > [@Spoons](#): > > It seems to me that “we card everybody” policies are more a CYA move than anything else. ding ding ding! ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583/19 "2023-10-15T06:09:30Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > IGB Statewide Voluntary Self-Exclusion List This seems like a promising avenue (also per the comment by **nearwildheaven** following). The website about the program is blocked for me because I’m in Europe: [https://www.igb.illinois.gov/ProblemGamblers.aspx](https://www.igb.illinois.gov/ProblemGamblers.aspx) But it seems plausible that if the casino is _legally required_ to bar entry to anyone who has registered with the program and voluntarily requested that they be prohibited from entering any gambling facility in the state, then checking everyone’s IDs is pretty much mandatory. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583/20 "2023-10-15T06:38:52Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Yep, it is about CYA (cover your ass0 and age. Now they have proof you are over 21. It may also a be CYA for a more critical issue: accusations of racism. They check each and every person’s ID equally… But that doesn’t explain why the casino uses computer scanning (Cite: a friend of a friend who once worked in a liquor store.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-casino-demand-my-id-everyones-id-when-entering/991583.md?page=2)