Rhode Island’s minimum gambling age would be changed from 18 to 21 under
legislation that a freshman state lawmaker plans to introduce in the General
Assembly next week. “It’s just a vice that might be with them for a long
time,” Fellela, a mother of four, said Tuesday. “I think it’s a way of
protecting them a little bit longer.”
The bill would raise the minimum age required to gamble in the state’s
licensed betting facilities, to buy state lottery tickets, and to bet at
racetracks or play Keno.
Larry Berman, a spokesman for House Speaker William Murphy, D-West Warwick,
said similar legislation was introduced in 2002 but failed to advance. He
said Fellela’s bill would be formally introduced next week and then assigned
to a committee. Messages left at Lincoln Park and Newport Grand, the state’s
two gambling parlors, were not immediately returned Tuesday. The Rhode
Island Lottery does not have a position on the bill, said lottery
spokeswoman Jennafer Rampone.