The typical gray-haired, midday crowd played the slot machines in The Meadows Racetrack & Casino in Washington, Pa., on a recent rainy afternoon, with every handicapped-parking space filled.Imogene Crain, who has breathing difficulties from pulmonary disease, parked a wheelchair inside to take a seat risking 20 cents a spin at a lively game called "Super Jackpot Party."Another octogenarian, Eugene C. Ocepek, was headed down an adjacent aisle to the exit, driving a scooter due to arthritis and foot surgery. He was a little poorer but content for the three hours spent out of the house with his wife."We've had people on gurneys come in before," said Jennifer See, director of marketing at the Presque Isle Downs & Casino in Erie County, Pa. The casino accommodates them -- though with a little more difficulty than for most patrons.All of Presque Isle Downs & Casino's 96 handicapped spaces appear to fill daily, See said."As soon as someone pulls out, another one pulls in," she said. Like at The Meadows, valet parking and shuttle buses are available for anyone who can't find a space and can't walk far to or from a car.See said that on some chartered buses visiting the casino, as many as 80 percent of visitors have been in wheelchairs, typically visiting from a nursing home.Walk into virtually any casino in America and you are likely to see people in wheelchairs, carrying canes, pulling oxygen tanks or reflecting other forms of disabilities. With broad, flat floors and elimination of need to pull levers on the one-armed bandits, it's easy for almost anyone to play. That way, of course, the casino can maximize its revenue.At Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort, which already has movable seats, scooters for disabled customers are available for rent by the hour or day, in addition to the free wheelchairs provided at many casinos. This fall, Mountaineer, in Chester, W.Va., will add a blackjack table deliberately set at a lower height than its existing 31 tables to make it easier for wheelchair users to play, said spokeswoman Tamara Pettit.The casinos must conform to requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act, covering facilities that serve the public. The most difficulty has come for riverboat casinos, because space constraints limit the ability to provide wide aisle space, said Judy Patterson, senior vice president of the American Gaming Association.In some cases, she said, casinos provide machines with no chairs in front of them to make it easy for wheelchair patrons to slide in. At the same time, customers with disabilities seek equal access to any machine."We have the same wants and needs," said Michelle Brozinski, assistant deputy director of Tri-County Patriots for Independent Living, a disabilities assistance and advocacy organization based in Washington, Pa. "I think society in general forgets that sometimes."(E-mail Gary Rotstein at grotstein(at)post-gazette.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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