A little over a week and a half ago, I posted about a bill being proposed in Indiana that would collect winnings won in casinos by parents who are behind in child support payments and handing them over to the kids.

Last Wednesday, the bill moved forward to the state Senate:

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 9-1 Wednesday to advance a bill to withhold gambling winnings from parents who owe back child support and win more than $1,200 on slot machines and different amounts on other winnings.

Of course, the casinos are still complaining about it, citing the same reason: searching and checking the names against a list of those owing child support would cause a two minute delay on the casino floors.

Two minutes. That’s all.

Two minutes the casinos aren’t making money, I guess….

Governor Mitch Daniels supports the bill, saying:

“…. helping single parents collect child support is more important than any minor inconvenience to casinos.”

See the full article here. (Jan 13, 2010)

Original bill proposal article from ABC. (Jan 6, 2010)

In Indiana, there is a bill being proposed that would collect winnings won in casinos by parents who are behind in child support payments and handing them over to the kids.

It’s getting a lot of support from Department of Child Services, Senator Schnieder and the Governor, but casinos are not on board with the idea:

The Casino Association of Indiana worries the legislation would cause a two-minute delay on casino floors while names of winners are checked against an electronic list of people owing child support.

They also site these reasons that would further complicate things:

….searching an outside database of people who owe child support could be problematic since not all casino floors have Internet access.

Also, more than half of casino gamblers are from out of state, so the chances of catching deadbeat parents are relatively small, he said. Smith also argued that child support collections are the government’s responsibility, not the role of private business.

First of all, why don’t all casino floors have internet access? I see the point being made about most gamblers are from out of state. However, Colorado casinos already have something similar in place and they don’t seem to have a problem enforcing it, even if it is a bit of a headache and not without complaint from the casinos themselves.

Second, let’s look at a few stats: In Indiana a little over half of payments are collected.

More than 165,000 noncustodial parents each owe more $2,000 in back child support, which adds up to more than $2 billion in delinquencies, according to the state Department of Child Services

And, really, what the hell are you doing gambling in a casino if you can’t pay your child support and/or are considerably behind?

I have my doubts that this proposed bill will actually be put into place, despite being backed by the Department of Child Services and various statesmen. Indiana isn’t the most ‘family friendly’/'family forward’ state.

Holly Schnobrich, a 24 year old mother of two boys in Lafayette, Indiana, allegedly got whacked out on vodka and Percocet (which she admitted to taking when the children “acted up”) and decided to go out for a little joy ride around the subdivision with her sons, ages 5 and 3. But being the conscientious mother that she is, she knew she was too impaired to drive so police say she let the 5-year-old drive instead. Fortunately alert neighbors contacted the police (oh, how I would love to hear that 911 call). When they questioned Schnobrich as to why her preschooler was behind the wheel, police reported that she responded, “But he’s a good driver.” Mom somehow had the wherewithal to buckle up, but her younger kid was unrestrained in the back seat.

The young driver said this to a local news station:

On Thursday, Weston told 6News that he was having a hard time driving.

“My legs were too short to reach the pedals,” he said.

Weston said the incident won’t stop him from wanting to drive in the future.

“I want to be a race car driver when I grow up,” he said.