Mississippi: Silver Slipper Casino to restrict visitors under the age of 21 starting July 1

Management at Silver Slipper Casino in Hancock County, Mississippi, announced Tuesday that only guests age 21 or older will be allowed on the premises through a website update and a Facebook post that has been receiving hundreds of comments. 

“No persons under the age of 21 years will be permitted in this building for any reason. All guests must be 21 years of age or older in order to be admitted to the casino, our restaurants, the hotel or the pool area”, the company explained in a new policy that will become effective July 1, according to general manager John Ferrucci. 

Guests at the venue may be asked to provide identification in order to enter the premises. In case they do not have the proper I.D., visitors will not be permitted to enter.

More than 1000 comments on the official post revealed that many users were actually in favor of limiting the property to adults only, differentiating a casino from a family resort. Meanwhile, others lamented that the access will also be restricted to popular family areas aside from the casino, which include restaurants and pools.

This is not the first casino to adopt this measure as two other Coast casinos also have an adults-only policy. Ferrucci explained to Sun Herald the reasoning behind the change in policy by claiming the resort personnel “tried desperately to accommodate their guests,” but frequently had to speak to parents and guardians about how they are supposed to maintain responsibility for children at a casino.

According to the venue, some guardians did not properly supervise their children, resulting in the Mississippi Gaming Commission citing the resort, after which the decision of restricting the access of minors to the facility was made. 

Every hotel guest with reservations has been contacted about this policy change. “We invite parents to come back when they have a babysitter," Ferrucci said, and added that the decision has been supported by hotel and casino visitors that have not canceled their reservations despite the new conditions.

Treasure Bay Casino in Biloxi and Island View Casino in Gulfport also limit their customers to age 21 and older. Ferrucci told the cited source that the owners of these casinos enacted the policy when the casinos reopened after the coronavirus shutdown in 2020. “It was a difficult decision,” he said. “We surely didn’t take it lightly.”

In Nevada, Downtown Las Vegas hotel-casino El Cortez in April started a process to become a 21+ property, when it began requiring an ID to book a room. It became Las Vegas' second adults-only resort after Circa.