I'm a regular gambler at Ocean Downs Casino. Normally I play blackjack, but am learning craps. This morning I stopped in for a little play. I was watching a craps game when one of the suits came up and told me that if I didn't have money in the game, I'd have to step away from the table. The table wasn't crowded, and I was neither blocking anyone's view or in the way of anyone attempting to play. This is the second time this sort of thing has happened to me at Ocean Downs – both times in the morning. The evening crew are more easy going.

I had not been causing any kind of problem, yet was given a hard time for no reason that I could see. My guess is that by preventing a gambler from observing a game before joining in, the casino hopes to get suckers to blindly sit down at games that would otherwise be seen to be losers. The only thing the suit succeeded in doing was in depriving the casino of the opportunity to take my money, since after he spoke to me, I immediately left the building.

Ocean Downs doesn't seem to know or care about cultivating a customer base. Presumably the casino is counting on the business of vacationers who may never return and therefore, to the casino, are undeserving of respect and fairness. If this is the case, the casino may find the off-season a lean time after alienating the gamblers among the year round population.